The New Canary Series
by EmpressV
Summary: Mostly Adventure/Investigative stories with a little romance on the side. Take a short jump into the future and the new Canary, Dinah Lance. She's growing up, fighting crime, and falling in love ...with Helena. (updated with the fourth part)
1. Stolen Innocence

Title: Stolen Innocence  
Author: EV  
Rating: R  
Pairing: Dinah/Helena  
Spoilers: anything up to and including "Sin of the mother" is fair game  
Disclaimer: The Birds of Prey TV series belongs to the WB and some other people that aren't me.  
Feedback: Please Please, I love it, love it, love it  
Timeline: Slightly future fic, Dinah's on the verge of turning 18, she and Helena have been actively partners in "the life" for a while now.  
Summary: Meta-children are being kidnapped, but for what purpose? Oracle, Huntress and the New Canary (Dinah) investigate.  
Notes: This is my attempt at a little adventure/episodic like story. It's mostly a chance to reflect upon what I think Dinah would become with time. Since I usually do the short scene / one shot deals, it may be silly adventure, silly villain, cheesy plot, but hey, I took a shot.  
More notes: Reese has a minor part in this story and two things about him should be noted. He and Helena have dated and broken it off as a couple, Reese knows who Barbara is and knows she's Oracle. Of course the sup-plot here revolves around a growing relationship between Helena and Dinah (yes I'm talking romantic, if you don't like it don't read it).  
Mucho Thanks to awesome Beta Jaycee  
  
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It was pitch black inside the building, but she had been trained not to rely on her eyes. Her minds' eye had grown in the last year and a half, so if this -- whoever he was -- thought he would get away with hiding in the dark, he was sadly mistaken. She could feel his presence in the room except it seemed to shoot around her and was hard to pin point.  
  
"Canary," she heard a voice say in her ear. It was still odd to her herself called that, even though it had been awhile. The voice that called her by her inherited codename was Huntress. "I lost the guy in the car, what about you?"  
  
If young Canary replied now, she might reveal herself. She had to remain silent. She turned off her transceiver, it was too distracting. She had to keep her mind clear and she couldn't do that with Huntress in her ear.  
  
She felt his approach, swung back with her elbow and knocked the guy in the face. She thought she heard something break as he fell backward. But it was only a stun, the guy swung back at her. She dogged his swing, but then felt a sharp pain in her side. She had been stabbed. It wasn't bad, but it gave him the window he wanted. She heard the offenders footsteps flee as she clutched her side. She turned her transceiver back on.  
  
"Huntress, he's on his way out," she said. "I've been hurt."  
  
"I'm coming to get you," she replied.  
  
"No get him," Dinah replied back.  
  
"She's right Huntress," Oracle said.  
  
"Do not underestimate him."  
  
"I don't see him," Huntress replied.  
  
"Check it out and get back here as soon as you can," Oracle said. "Especially you Canary. You need to take care of that injury."  
  
-----------  
  
The silence of the clocktower was broken as the girls arrived back in the clocktower. Barbara heard the arguing take over the room as the elevator doors opened. Dinah was holding the side where she had been stabbed.  
  
"Why did you turn off your transceiver?!" Helena yelled  
  
"You were distracting me."  
  
"And minus my 'distraction' you got hurt anyway, didn't you?" Helena told her  
  
"I know you aren't complaining about someone cutting off communications with you," Barbara said with an amused grin.  
  
"I couldn't concentrate with her constant chatter in my ear," Dinah said.  
  
"Can you believe this girl?" Helena asked Barbara.  
  
"Is it bad?" Barbara asked looking at the injury.  
  
"I'll live," she told her. "Can you help me with this," Dinah asked Helena as she pulled off her top and walking toward the first aid kit in the other room.  
  
Helena shook her head in frustration but her eyes remained attach to the other woman as she left the room.  
  
"I remember when it was her eyes following you out of rooms," Barbara said.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Helena replied defensively.  
  
"Nothing."  
  
Helena rolled her eyes and followed Dinah into the other room. She grabbed the first aid kit and began pulling out what she needed. It was hard to avoid staring at Dinah these days. She'd noticed the girl was more toned than ever, the muscles that had developed along with ... other things. She pulled out the antiseptic and began cleaning the girl's wound. Dinah hissed a little when the burning liquid touched her. Her now bra-clad chest moved up and down as she did. It was kind of -- sexy. 'Concentrate' Helena told herself.  
  
"This is the job kid," Helena told her. She said that the first time Dinah had gotten seriously hurt on the job. She'd been whimpering a lot more that day.  
  
"Don't you think I know that by now," Dinah asked watching her bandage the wound. "And I'll be 18 in a week, don't you think it's about time you stopped calling me kid?!"  
  
"What the fuck you snapping at me for? You're the one that nearly got yourself killed being stupid."  
  
Dinah stood up in front of her. Their faces were inches apart. "I knew what I was doing. Just back off!"  
  
Helena didn't know if she wanted to slap her or kiss her. Attitude always looked kind of good on Dinah, but she decided pain was a better lesson for now. She punched the younger woman's injured side.  
  
"Yeah, sure, you knew exactly what you were doing," Helena told her.  
  
Dinah grunted, grabbing her side for a moment. Then raised her hand to swing at Helena. Helena was still faster than Dinah, she quickly caught the hand, pinned it behind her back, and slammed her against a wall. This only made the pain in her side throb more.  
  
Helena moved in close to her ear. "Listen, I know you're all proud of yourself right now, finally becoming the big bad crime fighter you wanted to be, but don't forget who you're dealing with," She told her.  
  
Helena let her go. Dinah sunk into a nearby chair.  
  
"Listen ki--Dinah," Helena began. "There was a job to be done and I did it, alone, but you don't have to do that. You have me. Don't forget that."  
  
Dinah nodded.  
  
--------------  
  
"Did you two break anything this time?" Barbara asked as Helena walked back into the room.  
  
"I don't think so," Helena replied. "She's so hardheaded. What happened to that innocent girl you took in?"  
  
"You mean the one who lied, stole the car, and cut school to hang out in a meta bar?" Barbara asked. Helena didn't reply. "She's just going through some more growing pains right now. You were the same--"  
  
"Don't tell me I was the same way at her age again, please."  
  
Dinah came in the room looking apologetic.  
  
"Listen Helena, I'm sorry. But it was pitch black in there. It was risky to talk to you. I needed all my senses tuned in on the guy."  
  
"And you still got hurt."  
  
"How many times have you gotten hurt? It happens. At the time, it was the best decision. I stand by it."  
  
"Fine," Helena replied. "So we have any more clues on these guys," Helena said turning to Barbara.  
  
"Actually a lot," Barbara told him. "Got something from Reese while you two were on your way back, unofficially."  
  
"Reese did something unofficial? Wow, A lot must have changed since we broke up."  
  
"He had a hard time with that Helena," Barbara said a sympathetically.  
  
"Well I had a problem with the fact he didn't tell me Hawke was his father."  
  
"Helena, Reese not his father," Dinah said. "I mean, I didn't think you two made a good match anyway, but I don't hate Reese for what his father did. Was it right when my mom took out her issues with Catwoman on you?"  
  
"That wasn't the same thing. His father nearly killed you."  
  
"Ladies, Can we stop talking about the past and get back to the present?" Barbara asked. She pulled up a picture of a young doctor on the computer. "I think this is one of our guys, Adam Hanover. The other one, I believe, is Colin Thompson."  
  
"Why are they kidnapping metahuman children?" Dinah asked.  
  
"Some years ago Adam Hanover was doing research for the government. Specifically with kids who displayed mental abilities like yours, Dinah. They didn't call them metahumans and most of the parents of these children were so scared of their children's abilities that they easily gave them up. They shut down the project for unknown reasons and most of the children were reunited with there families. But one of these children was completely abandoned by his parents. Adam got custody him."  
  
"Colin? So what can this Colin do?" Dinah asked.  
  
"It seems, at least from these records he has some limited mind control abilities. But the only picture available is this one." Barbara pulled up a picture of a six-year-old child. "I have reason to believe that Adam has hired this boys abilities out to anyone willing to pay."  
  
"Let me guess," Helena said. "Reese knew this because his dad used the guy once."  
  
Barbara didn't answer that question and continued. "It's possible he did this to fund an independent project. And now he needs children, metahuman children."  
  
"But Adam can't be looking for more kids like Colin. Some of the kids he's taken have abilities not even mildly related to mental abilities like mine," Dinah pointed out.  
  
"So here's my big leap, my theory. This guy has survived by hiring out his adopted son's abilities. Perhaps he sees the value of having children around with other abilities. Or perhaps he's still interested in studying them, we can't be sure."  
  
"So he's stealing kids to either use them as test subjects or to train them to be thugs for hire?" Dinah asked.  
  
"I don't like either of those options," Helena said. "So now we have names and a possible motivation, what about an address?"  
  
"Still working on that," Barbara replied. "And while I do, why don't you get some rest? I know you have a test tomorrow."  
  
"Yeah, I do. But I can't rest yet, I got something to do," Dinah replied. "I got to change."  
Dinah headed toward her room. This time Helena realized her eyes were following Dinah again and she broke them away.  
  
"You're going to let her go out at this hour?" Helena questioned.  
  
"I'm not her mother Helena. Besides, you use to say out later than this when you were 17. And besides late-night sweeps have gone on later than this."  
  
"That was work," Helena said.  
  
Barbara laughed to herself. "Helena why don't you two just get it over with?"  
"Get what over with?"  
  
  
---------------  
  
Dinah slipped through the door of the apartment building. It was cold inside and she turned on the stove to warm the place up. Then walked over to a crib across the room. Inside was a little baby girl, 6 months old with the faintest traces of red hair.  
  
"Bet it's going to be just like your mom's," Dinah said to the sleeping infant.  
"She already looks just like her," a sleepy voice said from behind her.  
  
"Mike," Dinah said shocked. She turned and faced a teenage boy with shoulder length dark hair and brown eyes. "I thought you were sleep, I was just going to put this away." She held up a shopping bag.  
  
He took the bag and opened it. "Formula," he said. "Thanks."  
  
"I knew you probably were getting low. Your checks barely cover the rent and the babysitter."  
  
"A single father does what he has to do," Mike said.  
  
"It sucks, what she did. Just left her."  
  
Mike shrugged. "I should have told her, before. I mean it's hard enough being a teenage parent, but the idea that one day our baby could ... lets just say it isn't a pleasant thought."  
Dinah reached out and hugged the guy. "At least she has you, if, you know, she is like us."  
"Yeah, I just hope I'm enough."  
  
"Listen, Formula isn't the only reason I'm here," Dinah said. She broke the hug and went to the couch that doubled as Mike's bed and sat down. "I want you to watch out for this guy, Adam Thompson and his son Colin. He's been taking metahuman children."  
  
Mike sat down beside her. "But we don't even know if Nikki is--"  
  
"How often has a kid with at least one meta-human parent not been a metahuman them self?"  
  
"Not often"  
  
"This guy has amazing powers of influence," Dinah told him.  
  
"As hard as it is, I would never give up my--"  
  
"I'm not talking about someone with fancy words Mike. He's a metahuman."  
  
"Oh," Mike replied. "Just what I need. As if my life wasn't hard enough."  
  
"Just be careful, okay," Dinah said touching his hand affectionately.  
  
"I will," Mike said. "Thanks. I don't think I thank you enough."  
  
"No problem," Dinah said. She gave him a reassuring kiss on the cheek then she got up and left.  
  
----------  
  
Dinah felt a chill as she stepped outside. It was getting cold, so Dinah pulled her coat around her. Then she realized the cold wasn't the only thing she felt as she stepped out into the New Gotham streets.  
  
"You following me now?" Dinah questioned.  
  
"I was curious," Helena told her stepping into the light. "So who's your boyfriend?"  
"He's not my boyfriend!" Dinah snapped.  
  
"What's your problem kid? I'm just teasing you."  
  
"I'm sorry, I'm just worried about Nikki."  
  
"Who's Nikki?" Helena asked as the two of them began walking.  
  
"A few months ago I met this guy Mike in Gibson's and I recognized him from school. We kinda started hanging out. He had this girlfriend, Kelly. He wanted to tell her that he was a metahuman, but he wasn't sure how she would react and then she got pregnant. Of course, there was every chance the kid had metahuman abilities too, so he told her. She freaked out, abandoned the kid and he's been struggling to be a good dad ever since."  
  
"His parents help?"  
  
"His father's dead, his mom's in jail."  
  
"And I thought my life was screwed up," Helena replied. "Must be hard on the kid and his kid."  
  
"At least she has a father that loves her and is willing to sacrifice everything for her. It's a lot more than some of us had," Dinah stated. "You coming back to the clocktower?" Dinah asked.  
  
"Nah, I think I'm going to go home."  
  
They said good-bye with a friendly hug and parted ways.  
  
  
  
  
----------  
  
  
Helena felt like she had walked into the Harry Potter movie as she came in that evening. She saw Dinah staring hard at some dirty dishes in the sink. A rag seemed to float in the air scrubbing at a plate. It was followed by another, and then one more. One plate was moved into the dish drainer as another began to be washed. Barbara was sitting at the table reading something.  
  
"You're lazy," Helena said to Dinah.  
  
"Shh, It's harder than it looks," Dinah told her.  
  
"This is good training for her," Barbara said. "She's focusing in on several things at once. It's not magic, it's work. If she lets herself get distracted for a moment, that's it."  
  
"Really," Helena said with a naughty smile. She leaned forward and blew in Dinah's ear. Everything dropped. One plate hit the floor as the girl jumped. The other plate fell back in the sink and water spilled all over the floor. Helena laughed.  
  
"I hate you," Dinah said punching Helena in the arm playfully.  
  
"No you don't," Helena said dropping down beside Barbara at the table.  
  
Barbara smiled to herself again. "I really wish you two would just get it over with."  
  
"Get what over with?" Helena and Dinah asked together.  
  
Barbara looked from Helena to Dinah and shook her head.  
  
"How's that going?" Helena said to Dinah nodding toward the injury of the day before.  
  
"It's healing," Dinah said. "Barbara has new information on the kidnappers. We were just waiting for you."  
  
"I just found out, Colin's parents are dead. The murders were never solved, but it seems they were quite wealthy, right up there with the Wayne's and the Luthors. Someone claimed the estate recently. You two should check the property." Barbara wrote something down on a piece of scrap paper. "Here's the address."  
  
"Dinah's still injured," Helena pointed out. "Maybe I should go alone."  
  
"I'm fine! God, it's just a cut, I'm healing. You've fought with much worse injuries."  
  
"You're not me," Helena told her.  
  
"Of course, I'm just a little girl, I'm weaker than you, so I should stay home and watch TV. You never stop treating me like a little kid."  
  
Helena rolled her eyes and grunted in frustration. "That has nothing to do with it."  
  
"Dinah! Helena!" Barbara yelled. "Just go."  
  
Helena got the address from Barbara. They continued to argue on their way out the door.  
  
----------  
  
"Come on Nikki, stop crying," Mike said bouncing the wailing infant as he stood on the bus stop. He had just got off from work and picked up the baby from her baby sitter. He still hadn't figured out how he was going to make this month rent considering he owed the babysitter a double payment. She let him off last month because Nikki got sick and needed medicine.  
  
"Must be hard," a man in a business suit said lowering his newspaper.  
  
Mike met the ice-blue eyes of a man in his late twenties. He was dressed well, Mike could tell the suit and coat he wore was expensive.  
  
"I get along," Mike said.  
  
"It's hard enough being an orphan who became the single teenage father to a little girl," the man said reaching out to touch the baby. "But to know in a couple years you may have to deal with teaching a child to control and understand there metahuman abilities must make it much more complicated."  
  
The man leaned forward and whispered in the baby's ear while touching her. It made Mike nervous, the man made him uncomfortable in general. But Nikki stopped crying.  
  
"How do you know so much about me?"  
  
"That's not important, what is important is I could help you Mike. I'm starting a school, a private, exclusive school, where it will be safe for metahuman children to live and share their lives and their gifts. They won't have to hide or pretend they are normal. And you my boy, all your bills, your daughter's lively hood would be taken care of. You'd never have to worry about anything again. Of course there are certain people who wouldn't approve of such a school. So we must not talk about it. That's why I take it upon myself to find those who need my help personally. Consider this offer. Here's my number." The man presented a card.  
  
"Colin Thompson," Mike said reading.  
  
"Look at me," the man said.  
  
Mike looked up and met the man's eyes. "You must tell no one."  
  
"I will tell no one," Mike repeated.  
  
----------  
  
Huntress turned off the car a mile away from the property they were going to look into.  
  
"You can park closer than this," the young Canary said.  
  
"What you want to go right up to the front door, ask for a tour?"  
  
"I'm just saying its dark," Dinah pointed out.  
  
"Ladies," Oracle chimed in both there ears.  
  
"Amateur," Huntress mumbled.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Nothing, lets go," Huntress said, getting out the car.  
  
The two slowly approached the mansion cautiously. The place certainly looked lived in. There was a car out front and a young man standing guard. As they got closer, they heard a car approaching and ducked behind some shrubbery.  
  
"Mike," Canary suddenly said as teenager carrying an infant emerged from the car. He reached the front gate and pushed a buzzer. A man in a white suit emerged from the mansion and greeted him at the gate.  
  
"I'm so glad you decided to join us," the man said. As the boy came in the man smiled to himself. "As if there were any other choice."  
  
"We got to stop him," Canary said moving forward.  
  
"Don't be stupid," Huntress said grabbing her arm and pulling her back.  
  
"But I can't let him have Mike and Nikki."  
  
"Huntress is right, revealing yourself now won't do any good," Oracle entered. "Don't blow it now."  
  
"We can save your boyfriend and his kid later."  
  
"He's not my boyfriend."  
  
"Whatever, the point is we have even more of a reason to believe this is the place. Now let's see if there's a back way."  
  
The two women traveled around the property, surveying the area. Cameras and guards were all over the place.  
  
"I think our best bet it to pick a weak spot and take out one of the guards. That's the only way we're going to find out what's going on here."  
  
Huntress spotted a young man leaning against the gate. He looked around for spying eyes and then lit a cigarette.  
  
"Good as anyone," Huntress said to the young Canary. She walked up to the guy, catching him unaware. Her hands came though the metal bars of the fence. The cigarette fell from his mouth as she caught him in a sleeper hold until he passed out. Canary used a bird-a-rang to knock the nearest cameras off line. Huntress helped Canary over the fence and then joined her.  
  
"So far so good," Canary said.  
  
"You know what that means," Huntress replied.  
  
"It can only get worse."  
  
Luckily, the property had more than enough shrubbery to provide cover. They made there way to what seemed to be the pool house and slipped inside. While Huntress was looking to see how many men stood between them and the main house, Canary noticed what seemed to be a textbook on the floor. She picked it up and opened it. At first it seemed to be a simple biology book, but in a few pages she realized the text was directed at something else.  
  
"Hele-- I mean Huntress," Canary said.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Look at this."  
  
"It's a kid's school book," she said glancing at it.  
  
"Yes it is and I think we're in the school."  
  
"What?"  
  
"This book, it's all about how Metahumans are superior. How regular humans don't have the capacity to understand us. How we're the next stage in human evolution and the non-metas need to be wiped from our race, that there time is over."  
  
"I guess this is worse than we thought," Oracle chimed in.  
  
"It's clear," Huntress said peaking out the window.  
  
The girls exited the pool house and made there way toward the main house. They had to knock out another guard before slipping inside a side door. The door led to the kitchen, which was empty at the time. The sound of footsteps were heard soon enough and they slipped up a set of nearby steps, one watching up, the other watching down for anyone who might approach. At the top of a staircase it was silent, but there was a man checking bedrooms. He was with Mike who was still carrying his infant daughter. They slipped into what looked like an office. The girls cautiously crept down the hallway and peaked in the rooms. There were about 10 children all under 10 years old in one large bedroom. A peak in another room revealed half as many teenagers in a similar set up. There was a room labeled potentials that had four babies currently and a partially filed room of pre-teens and younger teenagers.  
  
"I think he has a lot more than the 15 meta-children we knew about," Canary whispered.  
  
"I think we have the beginnings of some serious meta cult-worthy shit." Huntress entered.  
  
"How could he?" Canary said looking at the innocent faces sleeping in the beds.  
  
"What are we going to do?" Huntress asked. "There's no way to get all these children out without a disturbance."  
  
"And I have a feeling many of them would resist you anyway," Oracle said in there ear. "And we have no clue what kind of powers and training we're dealing with, even if they are children. Under the wrong influence they could inflict some real damage. Perhaps we could--"  
  
"These children aren't going anywhere," a voice said to Huntress and Dinah, causing Barbara to pause.  
  
"Huntress, Canary?" Barbara said. "What's going on?"  
  
"We got company," Canary said.  
  
"Looking pretty good for a girl I took a good stab at yesterday," the young teenager said.  
  
"Get out of there," Barbara said.  
  
"But the childr--" Canary began.  
  
"You can't help anyone if--"  
  
Canary didn't hear the rest; their visitor shot two electric shocks from his hands. Both Huntress and Canary barely dodged the lash of these. They were on the verge of counter attack when they felt two electric shocks to the back of the neck doubled by and attack to the front by the attacker they could see. The shocks continued, all over their body as there first and second attacker merged on them. They passed out and there communication line with Oracle was dead.  
  
  
----------  
  
The ground was cold and hard where Helena laid. It was the only thing she was aware of as she woke up. Then she saw the bars and knew she was in some type of a cage.  
  
"Shit," Huntress mumbled as she got to her feet. "Canary?" she said still half aware of the need to still use codenames.  
  
She saw the girl was still lying on the floor, unconscious. She ran to her side and gently lifted her head.  
  
"Dinah, Dinah," Huntress said shaking her. "You are not dead, speak to me."  
  
Huntress laid the young woman's head in her lap and took her hand.  
  
"Come on Dinah," she said rubbing her hand.  
  
Suddenly it was like a shock wave went through her body. She could feel Dinah's mind inside her own or was she in Dinah's mind. In any case, she felt like she was in another place. It looked like the training room, but it wasn't. Dinah, or at least a version of her that appeared in Helena's mind, was kneeling on the floor. Helena approached her.  
  
"You're alive," her mental self said to Dinah.  
  
"I feel so drained," the Dinah in her mind replied. "I can't wake up."  
  
"Yes you can. I did."  
  
"I'm not as strong as you," Dinah lifted a hand that had been attached to her side. There was blood on it. "See, I just get hurt. I just get in the way."  
  
"What's wrong with you?"  
  
"I'm not as strong you. I never will be, I'm just a silly little girl."  
  
"I don't know what part of you this is Dinah, but let it go and open your fucking eyes."  
  
Suddenly Huntress was aware of herself again in the real world. The eyes of the girl in her lap slowly came open. "Hel-- Huntress?"  
  
"Yeah," she said with a relieved smile.  
  
"Don't scare me like that again."  
  
"I won't," the younger woman replied.  
  
"Good you're awake," a voice said. "I thought maybe the boys had given you a little to much of a shock." They both looked up into the coldest blue eyes they'd ever seen. He had a young man on either side of him, neither older than 16 or so. But the odd thing was they were the same young man and both were the ones who'd sent those electric shocks though her body. They noticed one of them had a broken nose. Dinah now knew why she had been caught off guard; there were two of them. "You don't even comprehend all the possibilities of your metahuman gifts. To busy running around playing vigilante with this one. I could offer you so much young Miss Redmond."  
  
"How do you know my name?" Dinah said getting to her feet.  
  
"Records from your school, before you ran away. I was ... disappointed to find you had gone. You were such a sweet specimen. Almost as exceptional as these boys here."  
  
"What are they, clones?" Huntress asked.  
  
"Natures clones, natures perfect clones, twins. Identical twins with identical DNA down to the meta-gene. Believe me, science has tried in secret for years to produce two specimens like this. They even tried to clone me--"  
  
"We know what Adam Hanover did to you," Dinah said to him. "Adopted you only to hire you out for jobs and--"  
  
"Hah, Dr. Hanover was a fool. He had no idea what he was dealing with. He was a puppet. Before I turned 12 I knew how to make him do anything I wanted." Colin smiled slyly. "No one would listen to a kid, so I needed him. And now I don't."  
  
Colin pulled a remote from his pocket, hit the button, and a metal door slid open across from them. A very sickly man lay in a cell opposite them. He was old and thin.  
  
"Can't decide if I should kill him or let him die naturally. Eventually controlling a man to the extent I controlled him eats away at the man inside. Soon he didn't even know how to eat unless I told him. Which is why I don't inflict as much control on my children. Only a little to open the door to the truth."  
  
"And what truth is that?" Huntress asked.  
  
"That we are the future. That the time of the simple human has... passed." He looked at his shriveled former doctor.  
  
"These boys," he said touching their faces. "Were abandoned by there parents because they were afraid. They made the boys ashamed of what they are and I made them proud of it. These two are a miracle even among metahumans, yet there parents and many others never appreciated it."  
The twins smiled. The alarm on Colin's watch went off.  
  
"Breakfast time," he said. "Awake the children my boys."  
  
The two boys left.  
  
"You're brainwashing innocent kids. Do you realize how sick that is?" Huntress questioned.  
  
"How sick is the world for the way they treat them?" Colin fired back.  
  
"Screw the world. I'm damn happy with who I am. I don't need the world to say it's okay. And I don't need you to validate me."  
  
"Ditto" The younger woman said.  
  
"Ditto? Perfectly explains the sidekick, a ditto, and a younger copycat. Don't you understand Dinah, I could give you purpose beyond sidekick to this thug," Colin told Dinah. "You are the first one I have known as powerful myself. So much untapped potential. You have no idea the things you could do. Yet you waste your time with fancy gadgets, and costumes and fake names." He turned with a disgusting look on his face and stared at Helena. "And her. She should be working for you, not the other way around. My boys, they were meant to fight the way they do. Meant to be foot soldiers. But I need someone suitable to lead. Someone with power here..." Colin pointed to his head.  
  
"No thanks," Dinah said meeting his eyes. "I'm taken."  
  
"I think your smarter that that, but if your not--" He smiled. It sent chills up Dinah's spine. "Well I can't miss morning lessons, we'll continue this later."  
  
Colin turned and went upstairs.  
  
"He knows who I am," Dinah sighed. "What are we going to do?"  
  
"Get out of here," Huntress told her. "Communication with Oracle is obviously dead, so we're on our own."  
  
"What about the kids?"  
  
"We can't do the kids any good until we save ourselves."  
  
"He was trying to get in my mind," Dinah told her. "It was familiar."  
  
"What do you mean familiar? You know this guy?"  
  
"Maybe. Once I was playing on the playground. Maybe I was about eight. It was right after my foster parents dragged me to this doctor and that was the first time I went into 'I didn't see anything' denial. I said I made it all up. They let me playground when I got home and while I was out there it was like someone speaking from inside me, asking me to come to them. I was so afraid I ran in the house that second. I think he wanted me to hear it, but he didn't expect me to really hear it."  
  
"You're saying this guy may have come to you before."  
  
"I could be one of those kids upstairs."  
  
"Okay, I guess you're ability to resist the call can be explained by your abilities being similar, I guess. But why didn't he have me kissing his ass."  
  
"Well, like Barbara said, it isn't magic, its work. He still has to get at a reason already inside you to manipulate you. Someone like Mike, always at the end of his rope, he can offer him food, shelter, everything for him and Nikki. You he doesn't know enough about yet and he doesn't consider it worth the effort obviously."  
  
"Unlike you," Huntress replied. "He looked like he was ready to ask you to marry him," Helena said annoyed. "Maybe we can use that, could you fool him?"  
  
"I doubt it. I think he would know deception."  
  
"Then it's back to trying to find a way out of here."  
  
Dinah surveyed the room for any tool that she could use to her advantage. The room was bare and the lock was obviously powered by that remote Colin carried. Huntress tested every bar for a lose one or weak one.  
  
"He keeps a tight ship," Huntress said.  
  
Suddenly a hole opened in the wall beside Huntress. She didn't see it. A round tube came out. Dinah was on the other side of the cell and a wall emerged from the back wall, separating them.  
  
"Helena!" Dinah called.  
  
"What the--?" Huntress began.  
  
No other words were spoken as gas began to leak into Helena's side of the cell.  
  
----------  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
Barbara and Detective Reese approached the property. She had contacted him after it was clear she'd lost communication with both Huntress and Canary.  
  
"You have no idea how many are in there?" Detective Reese asked. "Or if there are any weapons."  
  
"I think Huntress said a couple of the guards were carrying weapons. But of course, there are several metahumans in there with abilities as dangerous as any weapon. There's Colin Thompson and Adam Hanover, who isn't a meta human, the guy that attacked them and a handful of children from teenagers to infants. I know for a fact there's a 15 year old in there that can run at super speed, there's a nine year old who can blow fire, an eleven year old who can blow a wind strong enough to destroy a house, a 13 year old who can walk through walls--"  
  
"What?"  
  
"And these are just the kids I know about. With the brainwashing... I just don't know how big of a threat they are."  
  
"So if I call for help I could end up killing a lot of innocent kids."  
  
"Or end up getting killed by a bunch of brainwashed kids."  
  
"Any ideas?"  
  
----------  
  
Huntress felt herself coming awake in another strange place. She was still caged. She hated it; she wanted to snap the bars in half. But she wasn't the incredible Hulk and she knew it. This time she was alone in her cage. But when she stood up and turned around, she saw Dinah lay locked outside of it with a funny looking computerized helmet on her head.  
"This guy is straight out of the super villain handbook with this crap."  
  
"Completely," Dinah replied. "He even gave me a choice. Put on the helmet or watch him kill you."  
  
"Enough of the chatter," Colin said entering the room. "It really is a waste. You could have been my perfect mate. But as it stands, your DNA will have to be enough."  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"I thought maybe I was reading to much into that little moment in the cell when she thought you were dead. But they way you looked at her when I threatened to kill her if you didn't put on the helmet, what I felt from you." Colin sighed. "Well let's just say it ruins all my plans. However, if I can not have my queen, at least I can have my prince."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Your eggs. Your DNA and my DNA. I have my warriors, now I need my general an heir to carry on after I am gone."  
  
"Even with this thing on my head, do you think I'd let your 'DNA' and anywhere near my...'DNA'"  
  
"You need not say it with such disgust," Colin said. "I wouldn't think of touching you, but I have some doctors who will."  
  
Suddenly there was a loud bang on the metal doors. Colin opened them.  
  
"Sir," one of the twins said running inside.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"There's a woman at the door. She says she's selling something. Says she wishes to speak to the man of the house."  
  
"Get rid of her," Colin said turning away.  
  
"She's kind of persistent, especially for a woman in a wheelchair."  
  
"Fine, I'm coming."  
  
Huntress and her young friend shared a knowing glance as Colin left the room with the boy.  
"You think?" Dinah questioned.  
  
"I know," Huntress replied. "Don't say to much, I have a feeling even when we're alone."  
  
"We're not alone."  
  
"I'm going to try something."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Well, this thing is suppose to block me from using my gifts on anything outside of it. But I wonder... just give me a minute."  
  
  
----------  
  
Barbara saw the doors open again and this time a man came out. He was well dressed and seemed sophisticated, but his eyes were so cold.  
  
"Miss, I assure you whatever you're selling we don't need it."  
  
Barbara caught sight of a little boy and girl peaking around the door.  
  
"Well I see there are children in your home," she said.  
  
Colin turned and shooed the children. "They are my foster children. They're home schooled."  
  
"Well perhaps then you'd be interested in the Phonics Fun Package."  
  
"I assure you, all of my children are well educated."  
  
"Surely they could--"  
  
"Miss, I hate to be rude, but you're going to force me to take extreme measures to remove you from the property."  
  
"Actually, I think you're the one who should be removed from the property," a female voice said behind him. "And put in jail."  
  
Colin turned and a metal box smacked him in the face. He fell to the floor. Dinah had obviously ripped the thing from the wall and thrown it across the room. He looked up to see his former prisoners were holding each of the twins. There hands bound so that there powers were useless.  
  
"They're pretty good at sneaking up on people," Huntress told him. "But otherwise pretty useless."  
  
He started to get up when the woman in the wheelchair pulled two fighting sticks out of nowhere and struck him down, keeping him grounded.  
  
"How did you get out of the helmet?" Colin asked.  
  
"Well it blocked me from using my powers on anything else, not on the helmet itself."  
  
"So you used your telekinesis to remove the helmet," Colin grinned. "Brilliant."  
  
Children emerged all around him. From upstairs, downstairs, and other rooms. Obviously drawn by the noise, somewhat. But Dinah got the feeling he was calling them.  
  
"No matter. My future is still here, all around you. You'll never get them to leave."  
  
"Dinah," Mike said as he came down the stairs. What are you doing to Sean and Dean?"  
  
"Where's Nikki?" Dinah asked him.  
  
"In the Nursery, why?"  
  
"We need to get out of here," Dinah told him.  
  
"Mike wouldn't leave me now," Colin said.  
  
"Mr. Thompson is helping us," Mike told her. "He's going to help me bring up Nikki right. He knows so much."  
  
"There's no reasoning with her. She was never your friend Mike," Colin said to him. "She just pities you."  
  
"That's not true Mike."  
  
"Let the children go," Barbara said to him.  
  
"They are mine."  
  
"What will it take to get them free?" Dinah asked.  
  
"I'll never let them go."  
  
"Then I'll make you," Dinah said moving forward and pushing the twin she was holding to the floor.  
  
Dinah kneeled in front of him. She grabbed his clammy hand and held on tight. She focused harder than she ever had on getting inside of his mind. It was no easy task finding a place to blend her mind with his, but she found a way in. She didn't recognize where she was at first. She knew she was inside now, on that other plain where her mind could merge with others. As for the place her mind chose, it seemed she was on the playground she was on the first time she ever heard Colin's call. She was looking at a distance at Colin the man, but as he came closer he sunk to the size of a 6-year-old boy.  
  
"Colin?" Dinah questioned.  
  
"Are you here to play?" the boy asked.  
  
"No, I want to ask you to let the children go."  
  
"The children don't want to go, they want to stay with me. You don't belong. I don't share my mind with others," The boy said turning away. "They share their mind with me."  
  
"Don't you realize what you're doing isn't right?"  
  
"I don't want to be alone anymore," Colin said. "Mommy and Daddy wouldn't touch me, I scared them because I could make them do things. I didn't know what I was doing most of the time, so I couldn't fix it when--" Boy Colin started to cry.  
  
"When what?"  
  
"I got mad at my uncle. I said I wish you were dead. I didn't know he was suicidal, I didn't even know what that meant. I didn't want him to kill himself and then they sent me away."  
  
"I'm sorry that happened."  
  
"I was happy with the Doctor when they gave me away. There were other kids like me and then they took them away and I was all alone again. I just wanted a family."  
  
"We all do Colin, but you could have let the Doctor be your family."  
  
"I didn't care about him, he didn't care about me. He just wanted to know how I worked so I showed him, by--" Colin began to cry. "I was angry. I could make them do anything, anything but really love me. After my uncle I should have known better to watch my words."  
  
"What are you saying?"  
  
"I killed mommy and daddy."  
  
The crying boy Colin wiped away his tears. Then man Colin turned back toward her. "You happy now. Now you know. We aren't built for this world Dinah, we were built to change it."  
  
"What you're doing is wrong."  
  
"No more wrong than what a thousand non-meta parents have done to meta-children."  
  
"Unfortunately, it's a fact of life that sometimes parents can be cruel to their children. Sadly, it happens. People abandon children, abuse them, and it's not exclusive to metas. Just like being a good person or not being one isn't exclusive to metas or non-metas. Your logic here, the justifications you make for it, they're not realistic. Many of these children have parents who do love them, who accept that they're different, they deserve to go home to them."  
  
"I just wanted to be loved like that," he said, his voice cracking into that of a little boy.  
  
As Dinah returned to reality Colin's hand slipped from hers. He curled up in a ball and he was crying. The children and teenagers stood dumbfounded watching him. Suddenly Reese appeared in the door.  
  
"Gotham PD," he said showing his badge.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Huntress asked.  
  
Reese glanced at Barbara. "Back up," he replied.  
  
The sound of sirens could be heard approaching.  
  
"Thanks, Reese," Oracle replied.  
  
"Just a day in the life of a superhero informant," he smiled. He turned to the children. "I'm going to ask you all to please peacefully exit the premises. This man is under arrest and can no longer provide you with care." He put the cuffs on the man and walked him outside.  
The children gathered and began to file out.  
  
"Officer, my daughter," Mike said.  
  
"I'll get her Mike," Dinah said touching his shoulder. "We'll meet up later."  
He agreed and walked out the door.  
  
"I'm going to head back," Barbara told them and went out the door.  
  
"Well we're still alive." Huntress laughed. "And you still have your eggs."  
  
They looked at each other and burst out laughing. Then they went upstairs, retrieved Nikki and slipped away from the prying eyes of law enforcement.  
  
  
----------  
  
Mike carried Nikki carefully over to the crib and laid her down. She'd gotten a cold. She was just calming down after an emergency trip to the hospital seconds after Mike got done with the cops and met up with Dinah. He'd just taken her temperature and walked with her for a while. She seemed to be calm for now, but Dinah could see the worry in his face, which is why she had stayed.  
  
"It's not going to get any easier, is it?" Mike asked.  
  
"Anything in life worth having takes a little effort."  
  
"I love her so much, but sometimes I feel like I'm not enough for her."  
  
"You're everything she needs, a parent who cares about her. You always figure out how to get the other stuff."  
  
"I don't know what I would do without you," Mike said walking up to her.  
  
"You'd do what you have to do," she said with a smile. "You said it yourself. You love her."  
  
"Thank you again," Mike said taking her hands in his. "You just get more and more amazing everyday."  
  
He leaned forward to kiss her, she stepped back.  
  
"Don't do that," she told him.  
  
"Why?"  
  
She got free of his hands and walked across the room.  
  
"I don't feel that way about..."  
  
"You have feelings for someone else?" he questioned.  
  
Dinah didn't answer.  
  
"Who is he?"  
  
"I want us to stay friends."  
  
"Okay," Mike said obviously too tired to argue as he fell on his couch. "You can go, we're okay."  
  
Dinah turned toward the door. She paused and turned back. "About the whole rescue situation--"  
  
"Your secrets safe with me."  
  
"And we're okay?"  
  
"Yeah," Mike yawned. "We're okay, if you promise to tell me about this guy of yours at some point. I want permission to grill him, make sure he's good enough for you."  
  
"Why do you assume it's a guy?"  
  
With that final comment, Dinah was out the door leaving Mike to debate that in his head.  
"Her friend, what's her name, of course," Mike smiled to himself.  
  
  
  
----------  
  
Helena entered the room just as Dinah was putting away the practice equipment. Even though the word 'kid' slipped from her mouth all too often when talking to Dinah, she no longer saw that kid in the alley. She watched her mature from that kid in the alley into this woman, never expecting to become so attached. Yet, today here they were.  
  
"Hey," Helena said. "What were you doing?"  
  
"Practicing my telekinesis. I'm pretty good at throwing things across the room, knocking things over. Which was great a year ago, but you know I'm trying to get a little more control to it."  
  
"Like with the dishes."  
  
Dinah nodded.  
  
"That's good."  
  
"You know, I never really thought about how important it is to refine my gifts. I mean I work like hell to be able to throw a good punch, but I always sort of took my metahuman gifts as a given, at there surface value." Dinah looked directly at Helena. "But Colin's right, I never asked myself if there's more to them. Maybe there's a lot more to it that I don't understand. If I am as powerful as he says and he could destroy a man from the inside, maybe I can heal them."  
  
"What? How?"  
  
"I taped into something deep in Colin. I mean usually all I do is skim what's on the surface, but there were so many things he banished from the surface I had to force myself deeper. It was voluntary. It was weird to see this little boy inside of him, this little hurt boy. I was just flying by the seat of my pants. I didn't know what the hell to say."  
  
"Seem like you did pretty good to me."  
  
"It was luck. I don't want it to be luck next time. My mind needs as much work as my body, as my throwing arm, as anything. There's still so much I don't understand about my gifts. All I've ever thought about is how to make myself a better superhero, but I never really thought about using them for any good otherwise. I do now and I want to refine my control of my gifts and not just because of this life, but in my other life."  
  
"Does little Dinah have a goal beyond the night time life of cleaning up Gotham scum? I can't believe it. Can't wait to hear this."  
  
Dinah smiled. "I think I'd make a pretty good psychiatrist or counselor. It would give me a chance to study the mind and really develop my skills up here," Dinah pointed to her head.  
  
"Actually, I think you'd be pretty good at that."  
  
"Approval and a compliment, wow. I don't think I've had that in awhile. At least not from you."  
  
"You have to know you've become a little hard headed lately when it comes to our work. I'm just trying to look out for you."  
  
"I know that and it bothers me. It's just, sometimes I feel like all you'll ever see is that helpless little girl."  
  
"That's what you said when you brought me into your mind," Helena told her.  
  
"That was real? Shit," Dinah cursed to herself. She inhaled before continuing. "I think you know Helena, that for a long time now you've been my whole world. That's why I train so hard. All I ever wanted to be was like you. I mean sure I want to live up to my mom's name and all, but you were my first reason for wanting this life. That's why I fight so hard to be independent. I don't want you to worry about protecting me and the person we're trying to save. Or protecting me when you should be worrying about the bad guy. I'm there to back you up, not be your baggage."  
  
"Dinah, first of all, at your worse you're more controlled than I ever was at your age. I mean I'm just waiting for the day you outgrow me and the life. Second, you can't stop me from worrying about you, no one can." Helena touched her cheek gently. "I've tried, tried not to like you, tried to tell myself I don't want you here, but I love you kid." Dinah started to speak and Helena put a finger to her lips. "And don't get mad at me for saying that, I don't see you as a kid. It's just like... a nickname."  
  
"Did you just say you love me?" Dinah asked when Helena was finished.  
  
"Yeah, I mean we're like family right."  
  
"Is that all we are?"  
  
It was both a question and a challenge as Helena's eyes remained locked on hers, as her hand continued it's gentle caress. They had been pretending for months, pretending that it wasn't happening, that they weren't happening. But the pretending was over and they both knew it. There lips met each other and it topped every fantasy Dinah had ever had about Helena. She always imagined Helena different, the hard edges that had been her first impression of Helena were a lasting impression on her fantasies even as she learned that there was a softer side of the woman. But kissing her for real was like that m&m slogan, melts in your mouth, not in your hand. Beyond the hard shell was the softer center; delicious, sensual, exciting.  
  
"Finally," a voice said behind them, breaking the kiss.  
  
They both turned to see Barbara coming through the door. Barbara didn't hide the pleased grin on her face, so there was no reason for either of them to feel awkward about being caught.  
  
"I guess you're happy now," Helena stated.  
  
"Well it should make getting work done around here a whole lot easier."  
  
"I doubt it, you know how this one is," Dinah teased.  
  
"Me?!" Helena said in mock shock.  
  
"Alright, Alright," Barbara interrupted.  
  
"Anyway, I got some studying to do," Dinah said. She turned to Helena. "See you later."  
  
"Sooner than you think"  
  
Helena and Dinah shared a quick kiss and then the younger woman left. Helena watched the door clothes behind her.  
  
"You really don't mind?" Helena asked. "I mean, because, well...you know."  
  
"I've seen it happening, watched it happen, after awhile I just knew."  
  
"Well I wish you had clued me in. How did you know?"  
  
"She was the one thing you didn't want to care about that you couldn't help caring about."  
  
"What happened to that innocent girl I found in the alley?"  
  
"She became exactly what she wanted to be."  
  
"A superhero?"  
  
"The one you love."  
  
  
END  
  
12-9-2002


	2. Rush

Title: Rush

Author: EV

Rating: R

Pairing: Dinah/Helena

Spoilers: anything up to and including "Lady Shiva" has occurred

Timeline: A couple years into the future, Dinah's 18 and about to graduate high school. Part two in a series. Occurs some time after "Stolen innocence". 

Disclaimer: The Birds of Prey TV series belongs to the WB and some other people that aren't me.

Feedback: I'm a feedback junkie and I need any fix I can get.

Summary: Graduation of the senior class is just around the corner for the kids at the High School, but of course it can't just be a happy occasion. A high school related case interrupts the joy of graduation activities. 

Notes: This has turned into the second story in a Trilogy that starts in "Stolen Innocence". It's not required reading for this fic. Dinah has inherited her mother's name, Black Canary, and she actively fights crime by Huntress' side. This story is less focused on the villain and more character focused than the previous story. Reese is still around and he knows Barbara in this fic. He also knows she's Oracle. Helena and Dinah are romantically involved and have been since "Stolen Innocence". So if Girl/Girl love is a no no in your book, you may not like this tale. 

------- ~~~~~~~~ --------

She couldn't resist this feeling of power that was overwhelming her. This woman was in her grip, and she knew everything about her, had absorbed all the facts of her life in a moment. And she could crush her, crush her right here and no one could stop her. She could feel her victim so strongly it was as if she was inside her. The fear, the amazement, the shock, it was all there. 

"What the hell are you doing?" Helena yelled. 

"Finishing her."

"Dinah, despite whatever this thing is making you feel. You can't kill her." 

"Why can't I?"

********************

a few days earlier

Gabby and Dinah lay shoulder to shoulder on the bed flipping through the magazines. There feet dangled behind them, teasing each other occasionally for the fun of it. They were hunting through fashion magazines. It wasn't there usual activity, but an unfortunate event was approaching that required attention to dresses.

"I'm not asking her," Dinah said to Gabby.

"You have a totally hot older girlfriend. Why are you afraid to show her off? Don't tell me it's because of the whole going with a woman thing."

"Of course not, I don't care about that," Dinah told her. "I mean we were going to go together."

"Yeah, but as friends, not 'together'. It's not the same thing." 

"Trust me," Dinah told Gabby. "The last thing I'm worried about is going with my girlfriend, it's just getting her to go."

"You have to, I mean your still in your honeymoon phase. It's the perfect time for something like this. Your beautiful, she's beautiful, you're in love, and your eighteen so you don't have to hear any lip about age and all that other crap. This is going to sound totally cheesy, but you owe it to us love deprived to have fun that night with that woman."

"It's just, she's Helena and it's the prom and she's been there, done that and it's stupid," Dinah told her. "I prefer us going together and sticking with the hanging and having fun plan."

"Why are you so scared of asking Helena? It's a night out, it's fun."

"I don't know. Helena and I kind of just happened, we see each other and you know we do stuff, but never planned stuff. Never any kind of formal date-thing."

"So this will be your first official formal date thing."

"Maybe she doesn't want to be official," Dinah told Gabby. "Especially not with someone who's technically still a high school kid."

"Will you let that go Dinah. I mean if Helena cared about that you wouldn't be together. And graduation is just around the corner, so no one cares. You two are so hot for each other it's ridiculous." 

"Yeah, and maybe that's all that is, heat. And when that burns out, what's left?"

"Listen Dinah, you can sit here and debate all the reasons why and why not or you can take a shot and see where it gets you."

********************

Much later that night, Helena and Dinah entered the Clocktower together. It was still weird for Helena to work side-by-side with someone, to share the dark shadows of Gotham. It made it different, less of a job. It wasn't the kicking ass part that she ever needed help with, she had that down to a science, but it was this partnership. As a trio they were a working machine, but the partnership with herself and Dinah was different. Even when they had the occasional argument with each other, it was good to turn around and know she was there. She hadn't realized it then, but what she had with Dinah was what she was looking for in Reese. That was why she had attached herself to Reese. However, there were parts of her nighttime self that Reese could never understand and could never touch. Dinah was different, she was one of them. 

"That's two more dirt bags for the cops to throw in jail and another crazy for Arkam," Helena told Barbara.

The two young women walked right into the kitchen and Helena opened the refrigerator. 

"Pizza's on the table," Barbara announced.

They quickly turned and grabbed a couple slices from the box.

"Helena," Dinah said between bites. "You know my prom is coming up?"

"Yeah, I know, don't worry, have fun," she said. "Barbara and I can handle this for a night without you."

"Actually," Dinah said. "I was wondering if you think Gotham can survive a night without either of us."

Barbara raised an eyebrow at the two of them wondering where this was going. 

"Are you asking me to prom?" Helena asked shocked.

"No... I mean it's not like... Yes," Dinah said stumbling over her words. 

"I think my heart just stopped," Helena said in the highest "girly" voice she could manage. She threw her hand over her heart and played the damsel. "I can't believe it. I got asked to prom." Helena sunk into a chair. "I don't think I can stand."

"Shut up," Dinah said hitting her playfully. "I'm such a dumb ass. I shouldn't have asked."

"You're not a dumb ass, come here," Helena said grabbing Dinah's waistband and pulling her close. "You know I'm playing with you."

Dinah leaned down and Helena trapped her in a deep kiss. Helena wanted to drag her back to a the bedroom right now. If Barbara wasn't so close she might have taken advantage of the table in front of her. Helena's hands crept under Dinah's shirt and began to tickle her. Dinah burst into giggles and fought with Helena's hands under her shirt, begging her too stop even though she was enjoying the contact. The chair fell and so did the two women. They both lay there laughing like idiots for awhile and just when they thought it had calmed down, burst into laughter again. 

"So... you, me, prom?" Dinah asked Helena. 

"What you think Barbara?" Helena said looking up at her from the floor. "Can Gotham survive a night without the dynamic trio in action?"

Barbara seem to be considering it as the two of them lay entangled, on the floor, unmoving. Finally Barbara smiled. 

"Take your night, you deserve it. And Dinah has a bedroom, just reminding you of that so you don't get any ideas while you're on the floor."

They grinned some more. Dinah got up off the floor and put out a hand for Helena. She helped her to her feet and then they kissed again. 

"I guess prom's a date then." Helena asked. "Want to make use of that bedroom?" 

"Only if you promise not to tease me anymore, about Prom that is."

"No more messing with you. I'll even be the boy and wear a tux?"

"Don't even think about it. I want everyone to see the beautiful woman I'm with dressed to kill."

They kissed again. 

"Bedroom, now," Helena said dragging Dinah toward the room. 

********************

When Barbara left home that morning Dinah and Helena were still in bed, she could hear them. It was funny how the two of them changed modes. One second serious crime fighters, the next moment giddy teenagers. As okay as she was with the two of them being a couple, something bothered her. Helena had commitment issues. She had a habit of running when people got to close. She hoped Helena didn't mess up this one with the idea she should leave before she got left behind. On top of so many other issues, the girls had all the problems of an office romance which made things even more complicated. But she loved the effect Dinah had on Helena. Dinah seem to get to a part of Helena no one else could reach even before they were intimately involved, so she hoped this one would last. 

"Hello Miss Gordon," Reese said interrupting her thoughts. 

"Det. Reese," Barbara replied. "We've known each other long enough for you to stop calling me Miss Gordon. "

"It took longer than this to just get Helena's name. Besides you still call me Reese"

"I'm afraid in the case of Helena's name a lot of that was my doing. It's bad enough she refuses to hide her face. As pretty a face as it is, it makes things complicated. It was nothing against you. In our line of work we can't afford to let people in easily, but I think her instincts in your case weren't too bad."

Reese sat down in front of her. "How is she?"

"Okay and involved with someone if you're wondering."

"Really?" he replied shocked. "That's good."

Barbara could see he didn't really feel that way.

"I actually miss the way she use to just show up even though I pretended to hate it." 

Barbara reached over and squeezed Reese's hand affectionately.

"I'm sorry about the way things turned out with you two." Barbara told him. "But I hope that isn't the reason you asked me out here."

"It isn't, there's a case. Have you been looking into any cases involving a new drug? One that enhances normal people."

"I don't think so."

"A girl died, a young cousin of mine," he said sadly. 

"I'm sorry."

"I didn't really know her that well, her mother and I have a conflict of interest concerning my father. But her mother and I use to be close and she asked me to look into this. Before the girl died, I don't know, she was on this ultimate rush, like everything was enhanced, sight, strength, speed."

He handed Barbara a folder he had carried with him. She opened it. 

"Gem?" Barbara questioned. "She was your cousin? She was also one of my students," Barbara told him. "She was really bright, I can't believe she's gone." 

"Her mother really wants answers."

"What you said might explain last night. There's another kid I think you should look at. Helena left him on Arkam's doorstep last night. This kid threw a car at Helena and Dinah. Despite what we assumed at the time, he's not a metahuman. I did a follow up. Right now he's just burned out and sitting in the corner of his cell, it's like his brain has shut down, but he isn't dead."

"It's been hard to establish a case for anything. The incidents seem to be centered around students from Gotham High and you work there, so... I don't know, I thought maybe we could work together on this. You don't have to say anything to Helena if you don't want to."

"Well I'm not going to hide the fact I'm sharing information with you on a case," Barbara said. "We're all adults Reese that would be childish. The truth is you and Helena need to sit down and talk."

"You think there's still a chance for us?"

"No, not in that way, she's in love with... well she really cares about the person she's with now. But you were becoming good friends at some point and I think that's worth salvaging."

"Maybe," Reese replied. "So can I ask who this guy is or are we going to stick with the cryptic reference about Helena's new friend?"

"The guy is Dinah," Barbara told him.

"Oh," he said shocked. "Your Dinah?"

"Yes," Barbara replied. She smiled to herself. "Though I think she's more Helena's Dinah than my Dinah. I mean she's taking her to prom, not me." 

"Prom? Wow, things have certainly changed since I went to high school. I mean I'm shocked, but if that's what she wants... it's what she wants."

Barbara smiled. "Reese, don't pretend for me." 

"No I'm fine with it," Reese told Barbara. She shot him a questioning gaze, not really believing it was that simple. "I mean, okay, I guess I'm a little confused, I mean is she... you know... Little Dinah huh?"

"She's not so little." 

"Isn't she like 15?"

"She's 18."

"Really? I thought she was younger."

"Lets get back to this case ," Barbara said wanting to get off the subject of Helena's love life. With Reese, that could only lead to bad places. She took another look at the file he brought with him.

********************

The lunchtime bell rang loudly in the hallways. Students flooded the halls. Gabby, Dinah, and Mike made there way into the cafeteria. They collected lunch and found their table.

"She said yes," Dinah announced as she sat at the table beside Gabby and in front of her friend Mike. 

"Great," Gabby replied. 

"Who said yes? Yes to what?" Mike asked

"Her girlfriend, who else? They're going to prom together."

"She's coming with you?" Mike questioned. "Great, I don't even get a shot at a pity date."

Gabby and Dinah laughed with each other. 

"You're a little too late for that anyway," Gabby told him. "I was her pity date. We were going together if we didn't have dates, as a friend/friend thing."

"Jeez, all the beautiful girls are dating each other a guy doesn't have a chance."

Dinah and Gabby laughed at him again. 

"I'm for real. The girls without dates would rather snatch up a friend and 'hang out' then give a guy like me a chance. Use to be a dateless girl was so desperate to show up with someone at the prom, a guy like me had at least had a shot at a pity date."

"Maybe you should give the cute boys a shot," Gabby joked. 

"Ha ha," Mike said with little amusement. 

"Dress up Nikki and bring her," Dinah suggested. 

"While I'm sure that would make cute prom pictures and I'd certainly get some 'cute baby' hovering, you've never spent the night trying to take care of a baby. No thanks. Maybe I'll just blow off prom. My babysitter said she can't babysit that night and I'm looking for another one. Maybe it wasn't meant to be."

"Mike no one deserves a night of being a silly teenager more than you. Just come alone like Gabby has decided to do," Dinah said. Then she thought about it. "Hey, Why don't you two go together?"

They looked at each other. "No way."

"Why not? We all think going with a friend would be more fun then picking a random class member for the sake of being in a pair."

"Ugh," Gabby groaned. "The last thing I need it for my aunt to see me on a 'date' with a boy. My mom's the coolest, but my aunt is totally convinced I'm going through a 'phase'."

"You're going to let that stop you from enjoying your night?" Dinah asked. 

"Just forget it. I don't have a baby sitter anyway," Mike said. 

"I can get you a babysitter, for free," Dinah told him.

"Yeah right?"

"If I do, will you two stop worrying about it and agree to go together. We all know you're not 'together', I'm not expecting Gabby to go straight and the two of you to get married. It will just be for fun."

"Get me a reliable babysitter for free and I'm game," Mike said. 

"I guess Mike is just as good as you in the 'taking a friend' option. He just won't look as good in a dress."

"Oh yeah? How would you know?" Mike said with a grin, obviously pleased at the possibility of actually having some fun prom night. 

The friends stayed on the subject of prom night. Dinah was much more excited about it than she was willing to admit. She never imagined Helena would say yes and the thought of sharing that night with her, as exciting as it was, scared her too. There relationship had been built on the basis of Helena seeing the woman she'd become, not the girl she was. She wondered if sucking her into a high school affair was asking for her to be reminded of that girl from not to long ago. 

After Lunch Dinah sidetracked to Barbara's classroom She had enough time between classes to plead her case. She knocked on the door. 

"Dinah, hey," Barbara said looking up in the doorway as Dinah came in. 

"I need you to do a favor, for a friend, prom night."

"What do you need?"

"Babysitting," Dinah said. "Free babysitting. Hell, I'll pay you, just let him think it's free. Mike deserves his night, but he's often on his last penny and he works really hard too..."

"Dinah" Barbara said interrupting. "I know Mike's a good guy, but I can't do it. I know you and Helena will be otherwise occupied that night, but I wasn't planning on closing down Delphi and taking the night off. The criminals don't care it's prom night."

"I'm sorry," Dinah said suddenly ashamed. "I'm such a dumb ass. Use to be I had my goals straight. I'm turning into such an airhead at the last minute. I mean I didn't care about prom two days ago and now I'm willing to blow off work for a night out."

"It's okay. Don't beat yourself up for acting your age a little or even for wanting a night out. Helena didn't go to her own prom. She was still this big ball of anger, she didn't care about prom or anything else... she just wanted something to put her fist into. I think she's going to enjoy a chance to make up for missing her night."

"Really," Dinah said with a big grin. "I mean cause I felt kind of stupid asking her. I mean the last thing I want to do is remind her she shouldn't even be with me."

"Stop saying that."

"It's true. I mean she's Helena, she's Huntress. She's amazing and look at me. When I'm home with Helena, or out fighting with Huntress it's like I enter her world and none of this matters. When I'm in her world, I'm not a silly girl from Opal, I'm someone else, someone better. I'm afraid if I bring her into this other world of mine, she'll be reminded of that helpless girl from Opal that she met in an alley."

"Dinah, Helena underestimated that girl. I think she knows enough about you not to do it again."

Dinah grinned slightly. 

"You were pretty incredible the day you showed up on our doorstep," Barbara told her. "But you've become so much more. And no matter where you are, school, home, out on the job, you are that strong woman. For awhile now you've dealt with the complications of a double life and you've done well for the most part."

"For the most part?"

"Well, no one's perfect."

"Except for you," Dinah said leaning over to give Barbara a hug. "Thank you," Dinah whispered. 

Barbara always loved Dinah's warm personality. Helena had been different, not better or worse, just different. For a long time after Selena died, Helena didn't want to be touched or loved by anyone. She crawled into that darkness inside herself and wanted to stay there. If she hadn't had a place to direct all that pain, it would have eaten her up inside. Dinah had been different, she wanted to see past the tragedies and move on, the only problem was she didn't want to deal with the emotional scars left by the past and she couldn't avoid them no matter how hard she tried. In some ways that had been as troublesome as Helena wallowing there. Dinah sometimes buried so much she exploded, but she had since learned a more healthy way to deal with herself. Only because Barbara had eventually forced her into counseling, something she'd avoided with Helena. But getting Helena to do anything back then was like trying to make a wild lion behave like a housecat. However, Helena had been forced into it through anger management and despite the fact her psychiatrist turned out to be a psycho, she was a psycho who knew her job and it had helped Helena in a lot of ways Barbara hadn't been able to. 

Dinah broke the hug and started for the door. 

"Dinah," Barbara said causing her to pause. "Gibson's actually not a bad babysitter. He's great with kids. And with Mike being meta and the argument you gave me he might even take your free offer."

Suddenly there was a loud bang in the hallway. Dinah and Barbara immediately moved toward the hall. The commotion was a few feet down the hall. Carrie Small, who had always been a quiet girl, had one of the football players lifted over her head. 

"How is she...?" Dinah began

The girl tossed the teenage boy across the hall as several teenagers watched. Dinah had to do something. She concentrated on the boy hoping what she had been practicing for the last week would work. The boy just missed hitting the lockers as he stopped frozen in the air. He floated for awhile as the students stood in shocked amazement. She lowered him to the ground. Dinah fell in Barbara lap, a bit whipped from the effort. The amazed teenagers tried to figure out how the boy had floated in the air before landing safely to the ground. 

"Dinah," Barbara said taping her face. "You okay."

"Okay teenage boys are a little harder to manage than a baseball." She got to her feet, still a little dazed. "Yeah, I'm fine," Dinah said getting a handle on herself. 

"That was new. How did you?"

"Well, I figure if I can throw things I can stop things being thrown. I've been practicing."

The commotion continued as Carrie lifted the boy again. 

"I don't know what saved you this time," Carrie said to him. "But I wouldn't count on it saving you again!"

"Carrie!" Barbara yelled maneuvering her chair down the hall breaking through a crowd of teenagers. She saw other school personnel coming to respond to the conflict. "Put him down," she said preparing herself for a fight only if it was required.

However, she knew Dinah was there just in case as a safety net also. Thought she held her position Barbara didn't want to force her to use her gifts again. She knew recently Dinah had started testing the limits of her telepathy and telekinesis. But she was still at a point where it drained her to push too much. So she didn't want her to use them if she didn't have to.

"You don't know what it's like Miss Gordon," Carrie cried. "He taunts me endlessly, everyday... pinches my chest and ask me when's it going to grow. And he's still worshiped like a god because he's on the football team."

"If that's the case, He was wrong and we'll take care of it. Just put him down."

"I can't-- I--" 

The girl said nothing else. She collapsed. 

********************

Flashing police lights were the first thing anyone approaching the school would see. The faces of worried parents were next as they looked over there injured son. Cops were on the school grounds, taking reports from students when Helena approached. She caught a brief glance of Reese and then happily ignored him. She immediately found Dinah and Barbara sitting on the sidelines. 

"Hey," Helena said coming up to them. "What's this I hear about a teenage girl tearing into some jock?"

"You should have seen it," Dinah said. "This tiny girl holding this huge guy over her head. Unbelievable."

"What was really unbelievable was she tossed the guy and he stopped in the middle of the air, like he was floating and then was lowered to the ground, thanks to a friend of ours." Barbara nodded toward Dinah. 

"Well, you know my girl is pretty amazing," Helena said nudging Dinah.

"Not too amazing considering I nearly passed out doing it."

"Hey, I can't float a guy in the air, neither can Barbara. I say it's pretty damn amazing."

"I guess," Dinah said fighting a smile. She turned to Barbara. "So is Carrie a metahuman?"

"No, she was exposed to the same drug as Reese's cousin and that boy you stopped last night."

"John?"

"Wait, Reese's what? What's he got to do with this?"

"Gem Russell was a student here. She was his cousin and she died from the drug."

"Oh," Helena replied. "Maybe we should--"

"Blow off prom?" Dinah interjected. "I was thinking it too. We need to be focused on this."

"No, you're not going to pre-maturely cancel your plans for this," Barbara told her. "You're going. Reese and I--"

"Reese and who?" Helena asked. "When did Reese become your partner?"

"He's not my partner, but he contacted me because he wanted help and contacting you is awkward."

Helena rolled her eyes. "Well I guess I can understand it. Someone close to him is dead." Her words were less convincing than her body language.

"All the incidents have been centered around the High School students here," Barbara said.

"Meaning one of the students here might be the source of the drug."

"Maybe a student, maybe a teacher, who knows," Barbara said. She turned to Dinah. "Have you seen anything suspicious?"

"Nothing beyond the usual," Dinah replied. 

"Keep your eyes open, I have some things to look into, I'll see you two later."

Barbara departed. Dinah really looked over at Helena for the first time when Barbara faded into the distance. Helena was looking back at her with 'business' mode turned completely off.

"Hey you," Dinah said reaching for her hand. Helena accepted her hand and pulled her close. 

"Think I'll get arrested for kissing my girlfriend in front of the high school?" Helena asked.

"Only if it really pisses Reese off."

Helena laughed then she kissed her softly on the lips. She was going to pull away, but Dinah pulled her back claiming her lips and deepening the kiss. Helena liked when Dinah tried to take control. She knew she could reclaim power whenever she wanted, but Dinah was so much more delicious thinking she was in charge. 

Suddenly they were interrupted by someone clear their throat and they broke the kiss. Helena turned slightly to see Reese standing there. 

"Reese," Helena began not stepping one inch away from her girl. "You're kind of interrupting me here."

"Well you can go back to seducing your minor after I speak with her."

"For god sakes," Dinah groaned. "I'm 18, I'm graduating shortly, I'm not--."

"I'm kidding," Reese interrupted. "Barbara told me about you two. And I don't care. You witnessed the incident with Carrie so I need to talk to you."

"When did you start calling her Barbara?" Helena asked.

"What do you care? Is she your girlfriend too," Reese snapped.

"Yeah, she's my girlfriend too. After crime fighting we like to get naked and have orgies in the secret lair." 

Reese hadn't meant too say that, he had every intention of being polite when he came over here. But when he saw Helena kissing anyone else something snapped in him and words he didn't want to say slipped from his lips. It didn't matter it was this young woman, it could have been anyone.

"I'm sorry," Reese said feeling silly for acting like a jealous boyfriend. "I didn't mean--"

"You can be an asshole you know that?" Helena snapped back. 

"Look... I said I'm sorry, Can we not go through this? I just want to make my report and you can have her back, okay. You won't have to look at me another second."

"I can't believe I dated you," Helena mumbled. 

"What?"

"I'll be right back, okay," Dinah said finally deciding this had to end. She backed away from Helena and grabbed Reese's hand so she could pull him away from her. 

"Dinah," Reese said once they were out of ear shot. 

"What?"

"I'm really sorry about what I said. I meant no disrespect. I just get frustrated around her."

"I guess I understand, I mean if I were you I'd get a little upset seeing her with someone else."

Helena watched them from a distance. Reese was taking down information on the crime from Dinah. Detective Jesse Reese, her ex-boyfriend and current pain in the ass. She couldn't believe he now felt free to contact Barbara behind her back. He had a whole police department at his disposal, surely he could work on a case without bothering Barbara. Gotham was a big enough city for you to lose someone, why wouldn't he go away?

"Hey Helena," someone called from behind.

Helena turned and saw Gabby coming down the school steps.

"Gabby, hey?" Helena said smiling. 

"Who's Dinah talking to?" the teenager asked. 

"My ex."

"Your who?"

"Long story. He's a cop, he was quick to use the cuffs on me. Guess I got a kind of thrill out of that, but turned out those cuffs were the end of anything interesting about Jesse Reese. Anyway, he's investigating this thing at the school with those kids. Did you know Gem Russell, Carrie Smalls or John Cale?"

"Yeah, I knew Gem Russell. She was my first real girlfriend, freshman year."

"Really?"

"She was really smart and cute and we kinda started hanging out, even though a few people I knew thought she was kind of a smart ass. My friends and her friends never really got along. Then she got into her little brainy club and didn't have time for me."

"Brain club?"

"Brain Booster, sort of like the smart set's alternative to being a jock. They have competitions with the other schools and stuff. You can always tell when it's near competition time, they all where these t-shirts. As a mater of fact, Mike is in it, kind of."

"Is he here?"

"He's gone now, had to pick up Nikki."

"Thanks Gabby," Helena said running toward Dinah. 

Reese saw her coming as he closed his notepad.

"You done?"

"Yeah," he said. 

"Brain Boosters, check it out," Helena said pulling Dinah away.

"What?" Reese questioned but Helena ignored him. 

She and Dinah walked back in the school against a crowd of students coming out. 

"Why are we going inside?"

"Got a hunch, Brain Boosters, some club, you heard of it?"

"Yeah, you said that. What about it?"

"Carrie Smalls and John Cale, do we know if they were in it?"

"Come to think of it, John was, I don't know much about Carrie at all."

"Two down, one to go." 

"Two?"

"Gabby just told me Gem was in the club. It's a lead. We need to contact Barbara, but first since we're here do they have a room where they meet?"

"Yeah the old science lab. It's not used for class anymore."

Helena knew the way from her days at Gotham High, so Dinah just followed behind her. The classroom was empty as the two women slipped inside. 

"Is there a meeting today?" Helena questioned

"No, not that I know of."

Helena noticed something a Bunsen burner on the front desk along with a several tubes of a white substance. She picked a tube up. 

"I thought you said they don't use this for class."

"Yeah, but who knows what they do in there free time in here."

Helena pocketed the tube. 

"Boy this classroom brings back memories." Helena said staring out the window. "One time I had detention in here and jumped out this window because I had to meet Sandy."

"You are such a bad girl," Dinah said standing beside her. 

"And you love it," Helena replied.

She pulled her close for a kiss. Just before she reached her lips, someone cleared there throat. The teacher in charge of the club had just entered the classroom. 

"Shit, we just can't get a break today," Helena said to herself. 

They turned toward the person. 

"Hello Miss Johnson," Dinah said with a pang of guilt at being caught compromised in a classroom.

"Johnson?" Helena said examining the teachers face.

"What are you doing here Miss Redmond!" Miss Johnson questioned. " and with.... Miss Kyle of all people?"

"She taught you too?"

"Some of my teachers are still here, it wasn't too long ago I was here."

"Interesting to find you two... together," the teacher said. "What are you doing in here?"

"I was just showing her how I use to terrorize the school," Helena said.

"You were never a terror," the teacher said with a smile. "Don't let Helena fool you with her bad girl image Dinah. I always knew she was a sweet kid."

"Sweet? Helena? I never expected to hear that from a teacher."

"Underneath Miss attitude, she always cared about other people. I'll never forget, there was this kid. Joey, he was small for his age and the guys picked on him to no end sophomore year. Of course our Helena here was very popular with the boys, so she did something to help him."

"What?" Dinah asked. "She like beat up the guys who were teasing him."

"No, nothing violent. She dated Joey."

"What!"

"It wasn't a pity date, if that's what your thinking," Helena told her. "I just started talking to him. And I liked Joey, he may have been short but he had awesome lips. I dealt with the height thing, besides there were some ways that his height came in handy." 

"You're so bad," Dinah said grinning. "I can't believe you said that in front of Miss Johnson."

"She's just a person Dinah."

The teacher laughed. "I can't believe you two are together."

"So what happened with Joey?" Dinah questioned.

"I met Sandy and Joey and I just sort of broke it off," Helena said.

"Joey was set after that though," Miss Johnson told her. "No one teased him anymore after he dated the hottest girl in school, but unfortunately he moved away. They were good friends though."

"Wow, Helena, that was sweet," Dinah said teasingly. 

"Whatever," she said rolling her eyes. 

"I wish I had known someone as kind as you in High School. I was one of those kids picked on to no end. I mean everyone gets picked on but for the kids like me, like poor little Carrie today, like Joey back then, it just never ends until someone does something. But we kids feel so powerless it's hard to actually do something." 

"So you knew Carrie?"

"She was in Brain Boosters."

"Well we got to go," Helena said. "Good to see you Miss Johnson."

"You come back and visit," Miss Johnson said giving her a hug.

"And I'll see you tomorrow," Miss Johnson said hugging Dinah. 

The two started out the door. 

"Take care of each other," Miss Johnson said. 

"We will," Dinah replied. 

Both were relieved she hadn't pressed them for more information about there visit to that particular classroom. 

********************

Helena and Dinah entered the Clocktower. Helena pulled the tube from her pocket. 

"Happy Birthday," Helena said tossing the goods to Barbara. "And there's something you should check out."

"Brain Boosters?" Barbara questioned. "Already have."

"Reese?"

"Yeah, he didn't know what you were talking about, but I did. Your hunch was right, all three are in the group."

"We know."

"Miss Johnson is in charge, maybe I should talk to her."

"We just left her," Helena told her. "We didn't really talk about the club much though. That stuff is from the classroom where they meet."

"Okay, I'll examine this and see if it's what we're looking for."

"We were suppose to go dress shopping," Dinah said sadly. "Guess that's out."

"Go," Barbara said. "Just keep the communication line open in case."

"No it's okay," Dinah replied. "This is what matters."

"Dinah, go get a dress. I want you to have your night," Barbara told her.

"Alright, I have to change."

They watched Dinah leave the room.

"She's worried," Barbara told her. 

"About what?"

"She doesn't want to want her prom, because she thinks it makes her look young." 

"I wish she would stop with that."

"You know Dinah, she's always out to prove she can handle herself in the adult world. She knows this should be more important, but a part of her is just giddy about Prom night and she hates herself for it."

"That's crazy, I mean this is it, she made it. She should enjoy it."

"I think you should tell her that. I don't really think she believes it from me."

***********

Dinah felt silly cruising the mall with Helena. She was sure Helena didn't want to be here. And all she could think about was home and the case. It was easier to concentrate on prom when there was no active case to worry about. But Helena was here in the mall, holding her hand, so it had to mean she actually wanted to participate in her little insignificant prom.

"That would look so hot on you," Helena said pointing to a black dress in a shop window. 

"I know what you're thinking dirty girl," Dinah teased. 

"Oh yeah, what's that?"

"Easy access," Dinah replied. 

"You ever think that's what's on your mind dirty girl?"

Helena pulled her closer going in for the kiss.

"Dinah!" a voice called behind them. 

"Shit, what is going on?" Helena asked. "Every time I try to kiss you, someone shows up."

The two of them turned and saw Mike approaching pushing baby Nikki in a stroller. 

"Nik, How's my pretty girl?" Dinah said excited. She grinned and kneeled in front of the approaching stroller. 

"Yes, hello to the pretty baby, ignore the boy."

"Hello Mike," Dinah said playing with the little girl.

"Have you found that sitter?" Mike asked

'Shit,' Dinah thought. 'I forgot.'

"The babysitter is all but a done deal," Dinah lied.

"Okay, because I'm here to get me a tux and I don't want to have to bring it back."

"Who are you going with?" Helena asked. 

"Gabby."

"For real?"

"Yeah, as a friend/friend thing. Well I got to go."

"Bye baby girl," Dinah said to Nikki and stood as Mike pulled away.

Dinah turned to Helena.

"I'm going to hell, I lied. No babysitter yet, god I hope Gibson says yes," Dinah sighed and shook her head. "See, that quick I forget someone's dead and there are more important things than us getting all dressing up and dancing to bad music."

"Dinah, it's okay for you to be excited about this. It's your prom, your night to be special. Work is always going to be there, okay?" 

Dinah nodded. "You know I only care about this because you're going with me, right?"

"You know I'm only going because it's special to you, right?"

"So you don't think it's totally stupid."

"Of course not," Helena said. "But I'm starting to think you're stupid. I thought we were past this whole age issue. And you're graduating now, it's almost a non-issue."

"I thought I was past it, until this. High school and all that stuff has been separate from you. And it was easier that way, now you agreed to prom and it's like trying to merge those two worlds and I'm just afraid once we get in it you'll see you don't belong with me." 

"Why? Every night you're beside me, no matter what. You put all types of teenage shit aside to do the job we do. A little girl couldn't do that. I respect you and nothing's going to change that, nothing. Even if you are the baby bird, you're not a baby."

"Baby Bird huh? I actually like that better than kid." 

They smiled at each other and kissed briefly, afraid yet another interruption was waiting around the corner. There foreheads touched.

"Get the dress," Helena whispered. "Trust me, I'm going to make the night beautiful for you."

"You make everything beautiful," Dinah replied. She laughed at herself. "Was that totally cheese worthy?"

"Yeah, but I like hearing it."

*************

Mike, Dinah, and Helena slipped into Gibson's. After a few hours of shopping, they'd finally both been satisfied with there choice of dress, shoes, and other accessories. They ran into Mike catching the bus on the way out and they gave him a ride, saying they would make a pit stop in the meta-hang out. Dinah had immediately latched onto Nikki, gushing over the little baby girl who saw her as the closet thing she had to a mother figure. Dinah fell in love with Nikki at first sight and still wondered how her mother could have just walked away. 

Dinah broke off with the group when she entered the place. She went to see Gibson who was sitting at the end of the bar staring at Huntress. After swinging past the subject of his favorite lady, Dinah gave him the arguments she gave Barbara and he agreed to take Nikki for the night, free. Dinah rejoined Helena and Mike who were sipping on drinks. 

"Did I tell you we're set on the babysitting thing," Dinah asked as Nikki gripped her fingers and played with them. 

"Really, who's the free babysitter?" Mike asked

"Gibson."

"Gibson? Well I guess I trust him." He turned to his daughter. "You mind spending the night with Gibson little one?"

She giggled. 

"I guess it's settled then," Mike said. "Prom is on."

***************

Dinah and Helena entered the Clocktower a half hour later. They'd had a drink, dropped Mike off, and headed back to home base.

"So what was in your birthday present?" Helena asked. 

"Sugar. Whatever we're looking for this has nothing to do with it."

"You sure it isn't like an extreme sugar rush?" Helena asked

Dinah shot her a 'don't be silly' glance. 

"What? We've dealt with weirder shit than that."

"I have the blood test from Carrie, John, and Gem, no connection to anything found in sugar. Whatever this was in the classroom for it had nothing to do with what we're seeing happen to these kids." 

"I knew we were too lucky," Helena said. 

"At least we know where to look now," Dinah added. "I guess we have to sift through the Brain Booster kids. Never thought anything like this would be connected to them."

"Didn't someone say your friend Mike was in the group?" Helena questioned.

"Yeah," Dinah entered. "But with the baby he's hardly there for the meetings, though he always makes the competitions. I don't think we have to worry about him."

"If he's in the group he's on the list."

"I still want to see that new power of yours," Helena said switching subjects. 

"Alright, but it's not really new I'm just cultivating my telekinesis. I could give you a demonstration in the training room."

"I'm there," Helena said

"I want to see this too," Barbara said joining them. 

The three left the main floor of the Clocktower and entered the training room. Dinah retrieved a sword from a display case. She handed it to Helena. 

"Promise me you're not going to hold back," Dinah said to Helena. 

"When have I ever held back with you in here?"

"Well, this request is going to seem crazy. I want you to fling that at my face."

"What?! You're fucking crazy. I'm not going to do that."

"Okay," Dinah said shrugging. "Barbara you game."

"Dinah, I think Helena's right. That's a little crazy, I mean one mistake on anyone's part and your little trick could end up killing you."

"Why doesn't anyone trust I know what I'm doing?" 

"I saw you almost faint in the hallway," Barbara reminded her. 

"It was only after I accomplished my goal and it was a stressful situation all around, this is a controlled demonstration," Dinah told them.

"Okay," Helena said. "You want me to throw something at you, fine. I'm not throwing this." Helena put the sword back and retrieved a football.

"Come on," Dinah whined. "At least give me something sharp."

"Hey, I'd rather accidentally break your nose than cut off your head. I'm kind of fond of it now, okay."

"But Helena, I'm telling you I can--" 

She was cut off. Helena pulled her close and shut her up with a brief kiss. 

"Okay, we'll use the ball." Dinah said. "Just remember throw as hard as you can and after you do, move out the way."

Helena agreed. She went to one end of the room and Dinah went to the other. Dinah had practiced this recent trick down at the batting cages. She had gotten bruised in several places with baseballs shooting at her from the machine, but she was confident this demonstration would be interesting. 

"Alright, I'm ready," Dinah said. 

Helena tossed the ball. It was a weak throw, Dinah saw that early on and reversed it mid air, sending it right back into Helena's hands. 

"I know you can do better than that. Come on!!"

"Fine," Helena said. She cocked the ball back and threw it directly at Dinah's face, praying that the girl wasn't getting in over her head. She really began to worry when the ball was close to impact with Dinah's face. But suddenly it stopped, like it was paused in mid-air an inch from her face. It wasn't just that the ball was floating, it was like time froze for the ball, like someone hit the pause button at just the right second. Helena saw Dinah face contort as she turned the ball around and then this release as it came spinning back with the same force with which is had been thrown. Helena was in such shock, she forgot she was suppose to move for a moment. She moved out the way just before the ball hit the wall. 

"I found out if I mirror the force toward me back in the direction it came, I don't have to actually use my powers to throw it back."

"Cool," Helena said sounding like a child, but she suddenly felt like a child who had seen there first magic trick. 

"How much cooler would have been with a sword?"

"I'm still not doing it," Helena said.

"You're really are cultivating that power of yours," Barbara told her. 

"Want to try something else?" Dinah asked.

Dinah grabbed some baseballs from the cabinet and tossed them at Helena and Barbara. They caught the balls then Dinah again stepped as far away from them as possible. They began throwing the balls at her. She made each pause in front of her face in a neat row almost as if they were hitting a sticky wall of some sort, but she lost a few which dropped while she was trying to stop others. It frustrated Dinah to lose some, but Barbara and Helena were enjoying the demonstration and didn't think much of the loss of a few balls. The balls she got to stay in the air, about five, she made spin together before letting them fall. 

"Pretty good," Barbara said. 

"Yeah, I can get several things to do the same thing at once, but getting them to do different things at the same time still drains me a bit too much."

"Hey, one step at a time," Barbara said. "You're doing quite well."

"Damn," Helena said. "Anything the bad guys throw at you, can throw right back at them."

"If I'm aware it's coming. Now, one more demonstration." 

Dinah went and got the sword Helena had put away and another similar sword. 

"What is your obsession with sharp objects?" Helena asked. "I'm starting to worry about you."

"Don't worry, I'm not going to ask you to throw them at me," Dinah told her. "Can you two go over there?" she asked pointing to the far wall. 

Both moved away from her. She went to the middle of the room and laid a sword on either side of her. She raised the two weapons, suspending them in mid air. Helena didn't care what Barbara and Dinah said about it being work, not magic, this was damn amazing to watch. Dinah set them to a slow spin in the air on either side of her. They began to spin faster and faster until a whistle could be heard in the air. Then she release them in opposite directions slicing into the wall on either side of her when they hit.

"You just weren't going to be happy until you cut into a wall were you?" Helena questioned. "Show off."

"Jealous," Dinah shot back. 

"Whatever," Helena replied going to look at the sword impaled in the wall. 

"Nice trick, but I'd rather you not do that," Barbara said. "You slice the wall, we have to fix it. But on the positive side, it looks like you got them to do two separate things this time."

"Not really, they did the same thing in opposite directions."

"You're doing really well, but like Helena I prefer you not using the swords."

"Okay, okay," Dinah consented. 

Helena struggled to pull the sword from the wall and with some effort got it free. 

"Damn, this was in there."

Dinah turned to the other sword, concentrated a bit and it was pulled free of the wall.

"Show off," Helena mumbled again. 

"Jealous," Dinah replied back. 

Barbara laughed at the two of them and made her exit. Dinah retrieved the swords and put them away. As she closed the doors of the display case she got suddenly dizzy and began to faint. Helena ran and caught her. 

"Baby Bird, you alright?"

"Yeah, I guess Jr. Supergirl overdid it a bit today."

"You got to stop pushing your limits."

"It's the only way I'm going to find them," she said getting to her feet. "I just need a little nap," Dinah said yawning. "Too much in one day."

Dinah walked out the training room and straight to her bedroom. Helena joined Barbara on the main floor of the Clocktower. 

"As cool as that all was and it was...wow. Do you think Dinah's pushing a little to much?"

"She's focused on developing her gifts. You know how she is, when she goes after something, there's no stopping her. We're just going to have to trust she knows when too much is too much."

"If you had told me her abilities would become cooler than mine, I wouldn't have believed you," Helena said. "Pretty soon she won't need me."

Barbara noticed the sadness in her voice and affectionately rubbed her back. 

"People don't always need people for practical reasons," Barbara told Helena. "Sometimes it's deeper than that. No one understands that better than Dinah."

"Who would have ever thought I would be the one worrying about her growing up and leaving the nest?"

"She's one of us Helena, she's not going anywhere."

**************

Helena was outside the Clocktower observing the New Gotham night. The city almost seemed peaceful from up there, but she knew the truth. The dark beauty that was the Gotham Night hid many mysterious things, things confined to the shadows. And she belonged among those shadows, hidden from the known world. She was a part of both the horror and beauty that was a Gotham Night, but she didn't know if Dinah always would be a part of it with her. 

A well rested Dinah joined her out there. She slipped an arm around her and Helena returned the embrace. She met her soft lips with a kiss and tasted the minty-ness of her freshly brushed teeth.

"Minty fresh," Helena said with a smile tracing a finger along her face.

"Ready for sweeps?" Dinah asked. 

"Yeah, it's what I do. It's tomorrow night I don't know if I'm ready for."

"Prom?" Dinah asked shocked.

"Yeah, I didn't go to mine."

"Barbara told me."

"This is it, next year you're off to NGU."

"It's not like Yale, it's just New Gotham University, nothing will change except I'm going to a different school and I'll be getting a job that pays. I guess things will change, but maybe they'll change for the better. Not all change is bad you know."

"Maybe," Helena replied looking out into the dark night. Dinah could see her mind was off in some distant place. Whatever she was feeling she wouldn't verbalize it or wasn't able too any more than she already had. Dinah thought about reaching for her hand and taking a peak inside to those thoughts and then decided against the invasion.

"Lets get out of here," Dinah said knowing nothing helped Helena more than beating the crap out of some dirt bag. 

*************

Dinah spent most of the next school day seeking information on the drug that had affected some of the Brain Boosters. But most people were so excited about Prom night, it was hard to swing the conversation anywhere else. It was also the day yearbooks came out, so everyone was trying to get them signed. She knew she wouldn't be able to crack the case in a night, but she didn't feel much like joining in the teenage commotion in the cafeteria and found her way to Barbara's classroom.

"Hey Giles," Dinah said. She hoped Barbara would get the joke. "Can I eat with you?"

"Sure Buffy," Barbara replied. 

Barbara directed her to the chair in front of her. She handed her half her sandwich. 

"You excited about tonight?" Barbara asked.

Dinah shrugged. "Were you excited about your prom?" 

"Most people are."

"Then what's wrong with me, it's like on one hand I'm happy and on the other hand," Dinah sighed and picked at the piece of sandwich. "Why can't I feel like everyone else about tonight?" 

"Because you have concerns those other kids don't. But you shouldn't do that to yourself. Dinah there's always be a case concerning Canary," Barbara told her. "But you can't let that stop Dinah from living her life. I know the line between the two becomes blurred sometimes, but you have to remember that Dinah deserves a life outside of Canary."

Dinah smiled. Barbara knew just what to say to make her feel better. She didn't know how she would get along if Barbara wasn't here to talk to. 

"Everyone's signing yearbooks today," Dinah said softly. 

"Where's yours?" Barbara asked. 

Dinah reached in her book bag and pulled it out. She handed it to Barbara. Barbara flipped to the girl's picture. 

"Children will make fun of this in 10 or so years. There's nothing you can do about it, curse of the yearbook picture."

Dinah laughed. Barbara turned to the front of the book and signed under the signatures already there. Then she handed it to Dinah. 

Dinah opened it and read 'Dinah, you are a strong woman with an exceptional mind, but don't forget your true power lies in you heart. your friend, Barbara'. Dinah grinned from ear to ear and read it about ten times.

"Thank you," Dinah replied. "It's almost poetic. Maybe you missed your calling as a writer."

"No, I don't think so, I became exactly what I was meant to become."

Dinah thought that was true. She wondered if someday, like Barbara, she would grow beyond the inherited code name of her mother into something else. Her mother? She had had several mothers, several symbolic mothers. But none more important than the woman in front of her. Dinah looked into Barbara's eyes the look was so deeply serious it was chilling for Barbara. 

"I love you Barbara. I hope you know that."

There was something about the way she said it that shook Barbara for a second. She had always been impressed with this girl. Dinah embraced the things she loved with open arms and pursued the things she wanted intensely. But she had never looked at her so seriously and said something so simple. It was unnerving.

"Watch it with that," Barbara kidded. "You're going to go and make Helena jealous."

"Me? You're the one writing lovey dovey messages in my year book."

They both laughed wondering when they had reached the point where they could trade such jokes. 

"Seriously, I love you too Dinah," Barbara told her. "And I'm glad you came into our lives." 

"I'm glad too."

The bell rang.

Dinah left the classroom and tossed the piece of sandwich she had wasted in the trash. It felt good to sit with Barbara. It was weird, leaving her classroom that day. It felt like crossing over a threshold in her life which made it was okay to enjoy the final joys of High School. She'd come in a girl looking for love, family, acceptance and she was leaving a woman who had found all those things. 

*********

That evening Dinah sat on the end of her bed attempting to manipulate a deck of cards using telekinesis. She had just showered and thrown on a robe. She felt like she should be preparing for the evening ahead, but her mind was still conflicted. She needed to clear her mind and she used the cards to do this. She focused on the cards, individually, as a set, it made her not think about anything else. Clearing her mind killed the conflict about Prom and the unsolved case at hand. Helena came in the room watching her divide the cards into four piles in mid air. 

"Pretty cool," Helena said. 

"Yeah, I can divide them into piles. But I want to make them do this." 

She reached out a hand and the deck of cards landed in her hand. She shuffled the cards. 

Helena didn't really care, she was focused less on the cards and more on Dinah, who looked unbelievably sexy recently showered with the pink fuzzy robe falling off her shoulder. That shoulder was begging for Helena's lips, her touch. It wasn't that the trick wasn't interesting, but right now she was more interested in something else. For the last couple days they'd been busy, tired, or interrupted and she longed to just crawl into that bed and rip that robe off of her. 

"When I try to do it, I always mess up."

She put her hand out and released the cards into the air, divided the deck and lined them up for the shuffle, but as soon as she lifted the cards they slipped away into various directions all over the room. 

"Why bother?" Helena asked. "I mean when are you going to need that skill."

"Well it's like lifting weights, you don't start with 200 pounds, if you want to get there you work your way up. And you know how when you first start working your muscles get sore, well that's why I get tired sometimes. But with the cards it just relaxes me to focus on this little thing with no practical reason. It makes me stop thinking about everything else."

"Well, I can think of a different way to relax you," she said coming toward the bed. 

Dinah knew what she wanted as soon as she looked into her eyes. Helena crawled into the bed and Dinah met her lips, slowly pulling her on the bed on top of her. She didn't realize how much she missed the familiar weight and warmth of Helena's body on hers. Helena was a much better distraction than a deck of cards. 

Dinah briefly basked in the aftermath of being with Helena. 

"I needed that," Dinah whispered. 

"I know, me too," Helena replied. 

"Wasn't this suppose to happen after prom?"

They both laughed.

"I love you baby bird," Helena whispered softly.

"I love you too."

*****************

Dinah didn't know how she and Helena found time to get dressed. But getting loss making love to Helena for awhile was just what she needed to relax her for tonight. When they left home, there eyes were still suffering the after effects of the flash on Barbara camera. She was convinced Barbara had went mother hen just to tease them. Then Helena had surprised her with a limo. She didn't rent it. Despite the fact the idea of using Wayne money left a bad taste in her throat she'd borrowed a limo, a limo driven by Alfred, but it was enough to leave a huge grin on Dinah's face. Dinah then allowed the beauty of the night and the beauty of the woman she was with to take over.

When Helena and Dinah arrived at the hall prom night was in full swing. Gabby and Mike quickly found them. Gabby looked pretty gorgeous with her hair done up and the long red gown. She bet Mike really hated that there was no chance with her. Mike looked pretty good also. Dinah was shocked to see he got a haircut, it made him look older, more mature. 

"Look at prince charming," Dinah said giving him a hug. "I bet Nikki's going to look your prom pictures years from now and see her father was one handsome guy."

He grinned. "Not handsome enough to get a real date."

Gabby punched him in the shoulder. 

"What?!" Mike exclaimed.

"You two look great," Gabby said examining each woman. 

Both Dinah and Helena had worn black dresses. Helena's dress was long with a slit up one leg. Dinah's was shorter. 

"How's some of my favorite students?" a woman said approaching them. It was Miss Johnson, whom they were all fond of. 

"Miss Johnson?" Dinah questioned. "You're a chaperone tonight."

"Yeah. You girls really look beautiful, you too Mike."

They all said thanks and then entered the ballroom in pairs. They were soon absorbed in all the activity of prom night, dancing, taking pictures, mingling with friends. The night seemed perfect, almost too perfect and peaceful. 

The night was reaching it's down slope when Mike asked Dinah to dance. She knew it was coming, the guy still had feelings for her. She loved his daughter so much, he accepted friendship was all they would ever have. And she gave him his dance at the end of the night. Several members of the class had left for after parties or for personal destinations by this time. Helena and Gabby were about done for the night too. They were sitting at a table laughing about something with Miss Johnson. After her dance with Mike, they decided to go. Gabby, Dinah, and Helena made a trip to the ladies room to freshen up before they made there exit and Mike joined Miss Johnson at the table. 

"You really like Dinah, don't you Mike?" Miss Johnson asked.

"I like her a lot and as a bonus she's good with my daughter. If she wasn't in love with someone else, I'd marry her."

Miss Johnson put a hand on his. He smiled at her. 

"If you were able, what would you do to get her?"

"I don't know."

"You look a little parched," Miss Johnson said sliding her glass over to him. 

"I'm okay," Mike said. 

"Take a drink, it might help you feel better."

Miss Johnson smiled at him and then was called away. The girls returned and then joined Mike. 

"My throats dry," Dinah said clearing her throat. 

"Here," Mike said giving her the glass Miss Johnson gave him. 

Dinah drank it down and the party of four started for the door. Suddenly Dinah's mind was swimming, she was getting dizzy and then assaulted with images. She stumbled and more images swam through her head. She fell to her knees. She thought she heard people around her calling her name, but she wasn't sure if she was imagining it and it swirled into the images making her head spin more. And suddenly she knew it wasn't all coming from inside her head, she could feel the people around her. And in this rush she caught a glimpse of something, Gem, John, Carrie, all being comforted by the same woman. And Mike, a drink, ...

"Stop," she screamed

They stopped. Suddenly the dizziness was gone and she felt a surge of power. She concentrated on recalling the images she wanted to see and they returned to her on command. 

"Dinah, Dinah, you okay?" Helena asked. 

"Miss Johnson," she said getting to her feet. 

"I'm here. Are you okay?" Miss Johnson asked. 

Suddenly Miss Johnson was lifted off her feet and slammed against a wall. Dinah walked up to her and put a hand on the woman's forehead. 

"It's true," she said to herself.

"What the..." Gabby began. 

"Um there are some things about Dinah that are pretty extraordinary," Mike told her. "One thing is her telekinesis."

"Her what?"

"Long story," Mike told her. 

"It was you," Dinah said to the woman suspended in the air in front of her. "You drugged those kids. They were test subjects. And you were going to use Mike because he's meta."

"Get out of here," Helena told Gabby and Mike. "Call the New Gotham police department. Ask for Detective Jesse Reese."

Mike and Gabby followed instructions. 

"You're metahuman too," Miss Johnson said. She smiled, pleased even in her suspended state."

"Don't smile!!" Dinah yelled. 

Suddenly placed an invisible grip on her neck, she was gagging.

"How did you know?" she struggle to say. 

"I know everything you know," she said with and evil grin. "And even some things you don't. Things stored in your mind that you have forgotten." Dinah looked deeply into her eyes. "And I could crush your throat without ever touching you. How does it feel for something to control you?"

"Please," Miss Johnson struggled with her smile gone. 

"Please? Please what? Please don't. You want a choice?" Dinah asked. "You didn't give them a choice. You slipped it them and then sat back and watched the show. You watched them go mad with power and then you watched it destroyed them."

"Dinah, stop it," Helena yelled running at her. 

Dinah looked at Helena causing her to pause mid stride, she couldn't move. Dinah had her held in one spot 

"What the hell are you doing?" Helena yelled. 

"Finishing her."

"Dinah, despite whatever this thing is making you feel. You know you can't kill her." 

"Why can't I. I know that's what you really want, to crush out the bad guys, permanently. I've seen your dark fantasies Helena, fantasies of gutting the man who killed your mother."

"We both been there Dinah, but we both know better. This drug, whatever it done to enhanced your powers, it's also making you, I guess feel things more intensely. This isn't you, put her down."

Helena could see Dinah was tightening her psychic grip on the teacher. 

"Dinah! Don't do this. She didn't kill your mother." 

It was a long shot, but she knew if Dinah was feeling this way, that was probably the source. How often had Helena herself directed her anger over her mother's death at the nearest bad guy?

Dinah turned and looked at her. Helena noticed Miss Johnson was released from the invisible grip on her neck, but still suspended in the air. Helena could move again. She walked up to her. 

"We'll take her in Dinah," Helena said touching her arm. "Put her down."

Suddenly Dinah seem to struggle. "Two people, can't...too much information" Dinah said. 

Suddenly, for Dinah, the room went black. 

****************

Day was breaking through the windows as Helena sat by the hospital bed looking down at Dinah. She had spent the night here, unable to rest willing the girl to open her eyes. Barbara had arrived soon after she did trying to be supportive and hide her own worry. But for now Helena was alone. Barbara had gone to get them some coffee. Helena rubbed Dinah's hand between her own several times hoping to accidentally activate that little gift of hers. 

"How's she doing?" a familiar voice said.

She was disappointed it wasn't the right voice. Helena looked up at the visitor, Reese. 

"How do you think?" Helena asked. 

"Helena, I'm sorry."

"You weren't even there."

"No, not her. I mean of course I want her to be okay, but... I'm sorry about the way we turned out."

"Don't be," she replied thinking silently this was not the time. "It was as much me as it was you. The whole big fight, the crap I threw in about your father, it was just an excuse. Don't get me wrong, I hate your father for hurting her, but with you I just wanted out. That's how I get out of things, I fight my way out of them."

"So...you're out of it. Now can we stop fighting and be friends?"

"I don't know."

"Can we try at least to call a truce," Reese said putting out his hand. 

"Why is this so important to you. I thought you would be glad to be rid of me."

"Helena, it may be hard for you to believe, but I did love you. I still love you. I don't want you to go the rest of your life hating me."

She didn't respond. He turned away to leave. 

"Just so you know," Helena said leaving Dinah's side briefly. "I never hated you."

This time Helena offered her hand. There final handshake sealed a peace between them. 

"Can I ask one more question," Reese began. "Did you ever love me?"

Helena returned to the bed and looked down at the still unconscious Dinah as if the answer lay on her face. "No," she said softly. "I didn't. I mean on a good day I liked you a lot, on a better day a whole lot, but no, I never really..."

"Okay, I guess I'll have to accept that." 

Reese put on his best brave face and left the room. He passed Barbara in the hallway. They greeted each other with a hello. Barbara paused seeing the look on his face.

"What's wrong Reese?"

"Nothing, I talked to Helena, we made peace if that makes you happy. You're right, she loves the one she's with."

"Don't make yourself a stranger because of it," Barbara said putting a hand on his arm. "Helena's not the only friend you have in the group."

"Okay," he replied patting her hand.

They parted ways and Barbara slipped into the hospital room with Helena. 

"I hear you and Reese made up," Barbara said handing her one of the cups of coffee she brought in. 

"Yeah, I guess. Not really focused on him right now."

"I know."

Helena didn't even drink the coffee. She put it down on the table and took Dinah's hand in her own. Barbara came closer to the bed and took Dinah's other hand. 

"We need you Dinah," Barbara said. "Don't slip away."

"Barbara," she heard a voice say. 

"Dinah?" Helena questioned. 

Then the two of them realized her powers had become active, they weren't in the hospital room anymore. Both Helena and Barbara stood on a deserted Gotham Street and Dinah stepped toward them.

"I'm here," Dinah said. "I was tired, more tired than I've ever been. It was too much all at once."

"So you're okay?" Helena asked. 

"Yes," Dinah smiled and came to them. "Just let me rest." 

****************

A couple days later Dinah was back in the Clocktower with Barbara and Helena. It all seemed the same, but she felt different. I didn't help that Barbara and Helena still didn't trust she was okay and kept staring at her like she was going to burst into flames any second.

"So what happened to Miss Johnson?" Dinah questioned wanting to start a conversation about anything. 

"She was arrested and she confessed," Barbara replied. "But what we still don't understand is why she was doing it?"

"I do," Dinah told them. "I saw all her memories. Her mother created the drug. Her mother and a woman named Lane. Lane was a meta but an inactive power. And she always physically a weak, they both were. They both hated that they felt so powerless all there lives so they went about creating a quick fix for it and it killed her mother, but not Lane. At the time she didn't know Lane was a meta. She hated Lane for surviving and she hated that she wasn't strong enough to take her revenge. She was trying to figure out why it killed her mother and not Lane, and figure out how to modify it so she could get revenge for her mother's death. Enter here our three unfortunate students. She knew everything about the kids in the club, they were perfect test subjects. When she discovered what Lane was and what Mike was, it was a chance to see if the meta gene is what allowed Lane to use the little temporary enhancement over again, while it killed her mother. And if she figured if she figured out the why, maybe she could use it to safely modify it for her own use."

"You saw all that in a single touch?" Helena asked. 

"I could see an entire life in a single touch. My sense of everything around me was magnified on a scale I never imagined. It was... scary. Scary now that I'm seeing it from the other end. At the time, I felt invincible, like I could do anything."

"At least it's over now," Barbara replied. 

"Yeah, it's over."

Dinah made her way to her bedroom. She didn't tell them she still felt after effects, it would only worry them. She sat down on her bed. She gathered her deck of cards and once again attempted to shuffle them mentally. She found she could do it effortlessly. She figured that was the after effects of whatever she had in her system. Either that or she was beyond it, so she put the cards down. She lifted a spoon off the dresser. She'd been attempting to bend it. 

"There is no spoon," She laughed to herself remembering on of her favorite movies as the spoon bent in front of her. 

To easy, she couldn't distance her mind from the thoughts running through it. Getting a rush of memories about someone else's mother made her think about her own. She opened her drawer to put the cards and spoon away. In that drawer she found something else, a picture. Barbara had a picture of herself and Carolyn that she'd given to Dinah as a gift. Dinah looked at the two of them for awhile, the woman who began raising her and the one who finished. They were both younger back then, her mother seemed less hardened by life. She wondered how much of her mother she would come to imitate in the future, both as a superhero and a woman. She wished her mother could be here to see her graduation. She got her yearbook and turned to her own picture, comparing the face of herself and her mother. Then she looked at her name, Dinah Redmond. She had never thought much about the last name she used and she had the name Redmond so long it was habit to write it down. She was suddenly wondering why she had kept that name, the name of the people who tried to destroy a part of her. 

She headed to the main floor of the Clocktower where Barbara was sitting attached to computer. She figured Helena had gone out on a sweep, allowing Dinah to settle back in. 

"Barbara," Dinah said approaching her. 

"Yes," she said looking at her worried. "Is everything okay."

"Fine," Dinah told her. "I was just thinking. Is it possible to change my name before graduation."

"Change it to what?"

"I want to graduate as Dinah Lance. Dinah Redmond doesn't exist anymore."

"I understand, but that would be difficult to do at this juncture."

"I thought so, but at least I took a shot."

Dinah didn't let the name change bother her to much as graduation approach. She still planned to take back her birth name, but there were immediate concerns. Things to finish up in school and job that still had to be done by her nighttime self. And then it was time to officially say good-bye to her childhood, graduation day came. 

"I'm all grown up now," Dinah said looking in the mirror at herself dressed in her cap and gown. 

"You've been grown up for a while now," Helena said slipping her arms around her.

"But now it's official," Dinah said. "No more excuses. Did you miss your mother more on graduation day?"

"Yeah, that's why I skipped it."

"What? You missed that too?"

"Barbara wanted me to go and I love Barbara, I would do anything for her, but I just couldn't face that day. They mailed me my diploma and all, but..." Helena stopped and sighed. "Hey, I'm sorry prom night got ruined. I promise graduation day will be perfect."

"You can't make that promise. And Prom night was beautiful, believe me, nothing bad that happened messed up anything good that happened." 

Dinah turned toward her. 

"I'm glad you're going to be there," Dinah told her. "I love you."

"Ditto," Helena replied. 

They shared a gentle kiss. 

"Don't even think about getting her out of that cap and gown," an approaching voice said. They knew it was Barbara and they both laughed.

Dinah glanced back at Barbara and Helena as her classmates crossed the stage. That was her family now and it didn't make it hurt so much that her mother missed another big step in her life. Mike's sitter had brought Nikki to graduation. He wanted his daughter to see him graduate. She thought Nikki was lucky to have a father so dedicated to her. Gabby's mother was, as Gabby said, the coolest. She was there and had taken a whole camera load of pictures before they even got in the auditorium and she had to run out to a nearby drug store before stumbling in the door late with a more film. But she had enough to snap a bunch of pictures from the time her daughter got up till the time she crossed the stage. Dinah didn't pay much attention as they approached the series of L last names being called, knowing unfortunately her name would be linked to the Rs.

"Lance, Dinah," the principal said. 

"What?"

"Miss Lance," the principal said again. 

Dinah smiled and got up. She got to the stage and received her diploma as Dinah Lance. She switched her tassel as all the members of her class had done and started off the stage. Suddenly she thought she felt something familiar and looked past Helena and Barbara. It looked like... but it couldn't be... Dinah went to her seat and looked back behind her again, but the figure she thought she saw was gone. 

THE END

12-16-02


	3. FAMILY

Title: Family  
Author: EV  
Rating: R  
Pairing: Dinah/Helena  
Time line: Dinah's first year in College. Follows in the series that began with "Stolen Innocence" and "Rush".  
Disclaimer: The Birds of Prey TV series belongs to the WB and some other people that aren't me.  
  
Feedback: I'm a feedback junkie and I need any fix I can get.  
  
Summary: Dinah's first year of college changes the course of her life forever.   
  
AUTHOR'S NOTES: It was suppose to be the last in the series, but another story grew from this  
one, so I let it twist the way it wanted. 3 parts is now four parts.   
  
*************  
  
As she moved around the room Dinah knew it wasn't her happiest day. She arrived in the clocktower to pick up the last of her things. Barbara was close by watching as Dinah close her last suitcase. After this her packing was finally done. Most of  
her stuff was already at the dorm.   
  
"You know you could stay here," Barbara told her.  
  
"I know, but I want to try the whole dorm room thing. At least I know I've got a room here if my  
roommate becomes a pain."  
  
"It seems like just yesterday, thanks to Helena, you were laying unconscious on my couch."  
  
"Yeah it was love at first punch."  
  
They both laughed as they remembered the incidents that inducted her into the group.   
  
"Dinah, um... I saw you at the computer last night. You were reading the police reports  
surrounding you mother's death."  
  
Dinah didn't say anything.   
  
"I thought that was behind you."  
  
"It was," Dinah said not meeting her eyes. "Until graduation. I think I saw her. I mean, I'm not  
sure because she was gone when I looked again. But for a second it was so real."  
  
"Maybe you were seeing what you wanted to see. You had just survived the effects of a powerful  
drug and it was one of those days you want your mother to see."  
  
"That's what I was thinking, but what if it's not. It's not like I'm obsessed with it I'm just looking  
into it. I mean the worse I can find out is she's still dead right?"  
  
"No, the worse than can happen is you begin to think of her as alive and then you have to go  
through that whole grieving process again. I don't want you to go looking for the dead and forget  
the people who are alive."  
  
"I'm not going to let that happen."  
  
"I hope so."  
  
"I have to get to the center," Dinah said. "I'll be back later tonight."  
  
Dinah pulled the suitcase off the bed and then turned toward the door of her room and started  
out.   
  
"Dinah wait I have something for you."  
  
She turned back. "What?"  
  
Barbara handed her a small white box. Dinah opened it. It was a beeper.   
  
"It's like mine. It will notify you as it does me if there's a Delphi Alert. You can change it to  
vibrate in class or turn it off if you wish. I don't want to be pulling you out of classes in the  
middle of the day, but I think you'd want to know if there was a real emergency."  
  
"Wow, I feel all official now," Dinah said with a smile.   
  
"I'm really going to miss having you around."  
  
"I'm going to miss being around." Dinah examined the beeper. "You know I wouldn't be who I  
am today without you. I don't know what I'd be, but I wouldn't be half of what I am now. Might  
not be a quarter of what I am now. I'd still be ashamed of being different and I'd have no purpose. I  
keep wanting to say thank you and I keep feeling like it's not enough."  
  
"Don't thank me. This choice was yours. I would have never known you if you hadn't made the  
decision to trust what you are and follow your vision. You did this Dinah, you put yourself right  
here and decided what you wanted to do. Give yourself more credit."  
  
Dinah leaned over and hugged Barbara tightly.   
  
  
**************  
  
  
Dinah stared up at the NGU dorms. It didn't feel like home, she didn't feel like she belonged here.  
She'd just left her room and her roommate, who seemed nice enough. But her first day in the  
Clocktower, she felt like she had found the place she was suppose to be. Here she just felt alone.  
She supposed several people missed there families. It would just take getting use to. This is what  
growing up was about, leaving the nest. Right now she wasn't looking forward to going back to  
the clocktower either, mostly because she wasn't looking forward to possibly running into Helena. They'd had  
there first real big fight the other night. At some point she'd told Helena she needed to grow up  
and things just got worse from there. Even though things still didn't feel quite right here in the  
college dorms, it was better than the conflict still awaiting with Helena. But how had things gone  
wrong?  
  
Everything seemed to change when she saw her mother at graduation. She recalled the day over  
and over again and she was sure it was her mother standing there. She'd gone over the police  
reports over and over again and it always pointed to "presumed dead", not confirmed dead. There  
were questioned still unanswered. Unfortunately she couldn't focus completely on that either.  
There was the paperwork for College, preparing for classes, and keeping up her nighttime life at  
the Clocktower. Over the summer there was Gabby leaving and wanting to spend as much time  
with her before she went away to school. She missed Gabby a lot. It was hard to deal with Gabby  
going away to school. She was her first real friend in New Gotham outside of the superhero fold.  
There was also her new job at the community center and the children she helped there. There was  
Mike and Nikki, who she tried to squeeze in. She felt like she had neglected them. Sure, baby  
Nikki wasn't hers, but Mike had sat her down one day and asked her if she would be like a big  
sister figure to Nikki. He said he trusted her with the Nikki and she was the closest stable thing  
Nikki had to a mother. But life was anything but stable at this point. There were a million things she was just beginning  
to straighten out and fit into her life and somehow she'd taken the fact that Helena was there for  
granted. She felt the distance between them and in the last couple months there had been less  
Warmth and a whole lot more arguments, but Dinah was juggling several new things and still  
trying to figure out how to make it all work. Why couldn't Helena understand that?  
  
Dinah arrived at Buger Mania and checked her watch. She was suppose to meet Mike here  
after Nikki's doctor appointment. She didn't really have much time to waste these days, but she  
hadn't seen Mike and Nikki in three weeks. Mike was busy too. Along with school he  
was the parent of a small child. Along with College courses, he was taking parenting classes. In additon to that he had a  
new job and a new apartment.   
  
Finally she saw Mike approaching carrying Nikki on his hip. She was getting big so fast and  
looking more like her mother everyday. She still didn't understand how Kelly just left her baby  
and disappeared into some new life. So what if the baby grew up to have some special ability. It  
seemed so cruel.  
  
"Hey," Mike said approaching her. "Sorry I'm late."  
  
"IT okay?" Dinah said giving him a quick hug. "How is my little Nik Nik?"  
  
"Daddy," Nikki said.   
  
"She's talking?" Dinah questioned.   
  
"Well she's saying little things. She's saying Daddy, which thrilled me until she started calling  
everyone Daddy. She can also say no and yes. Anything else she says, your guess is as good as  
mine."  
  
"Wow," Dinah said. "I'm going to have to make some extra time to spend with you aren't I?"  
  
The baby grinned. She reached for Dinah and Dinah took her from her father.  
  
"You still with Helena?" Mike asked  
  
"Of course," she told him. "Why do you ask me that every time we see each other?"   
  
He shrugged.  
  
She looked at Nikki. "You're about to be one whole year old aren't you?"  
  
"Yeah," Mike said. "We're going to have a big party for her."  
  
Nikki smiled again.   
  
"Have you spoken to Gabby?" Mike asked.   
  
"Yeah, Prom night was really weird for her, seeing what I could do and all. I wanted to tell her I  
was a meta and what I could do before, but I was afraid. She totally accepted me though." Dinah  
smiled to herself. "We e-mail all the time now that's she's gone. Guess who she ran into out  
there."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Gina. Things are going good with them."  
  
"Good for her," Mike said with little enthusiasm.  
  
"Mike, don't be like that."  
  
"Sorry, it's just that everyone has a love life but me. Then again, look where a relationship got me  
last time. I wouldn't give up Nik for a million dollars, but I don't know how I would manage if it  
happened again."  
  
"Mike, I have every confidence you'll meet some great girl that Nikki loves and you'll have a  
wonderful life and more children."  
  
"Just my luck the woman Nikki loves the most doesn't love her daddy."  
  
"I love Nikki's daddy very much. Just not in that way."  
  
"I hope Helena knows how lucky she is."  
  
Dinah grinned. "Well, I have work to do so..."  
  
"I thought we were going to eat," Mike said.   
  
"You were late. No time," Dinah said. Dinah turned to the baby in her arms. "Nikki, I have to go, okay."  
  
'okay,' she though she heard as she kissed the little baby's forehead. Had Nikki spoken again? She  
stared at the baby.   
  
"Did you say okay?"  
  
"She didn't say anything," Mike said.   
  
"I must be hearing things," Dinah replied. "See you two later."  
  
The baby and Mike waved good-bye  
  
  
*****  
  
It had been a long day and Dinah was tired, but Dinah knew her night was just begining. Darkness had set in by the time  
Dinah made her way to Barbara's and joined the team in the clocktower. Huntress was already ready and waiting by Barbara's side.   
  
"The great Canary finally arrives," Huntress said.   
  
"I got here as fast as I could."  
  
"I know, Dinah's little life is so busy right now she barely has time for anything or anyone."  
  
Dinah rolled her eyes. "Not right now, okay."  
  
"I forgot, you don't have time for little distractions like me anymore."  
  
Barbara noticed the negative tension building around the two for the last month or so. They were  
distant which was bad for there working situation. The team wasn't in sync.  
  
"Can we focus please?" Barbara said.   
  
"I am focused," Dinah said. "She's the one who--"  
  
"Dinah, don't go pointing fingers. You're both adults. I'm not going to go there with you two. You  
figure this out on your own time."  
  
"Okay," Dinah said.   
  
"Agreed," Huntress said. "So what's the problem?"  
  
"DMK labs was broken into."  
  
"What did they take?"  
  
"That's the thing," Barbara said. "There was nothing to take. The place was shut down five years  
ago. It was connected with the illegal distribution of a drug known on the street as Spunk."   
  
"I remember that one," Helena said. "Talk about some wacked out kids. Some little 14 year old  
girl got a hold of some and convinced herself she could fly. Good thing I was there to catch her."  
  
"Check the place out," Barbara said.  
  
The two exited the clocktower hardly speaking. Barbara didn't know how this would end. She  
tried to tell herself they had to work it out, but in there own way they were family and it was hard  
not to interfere. Still, the only thing she could do was make sure they stayed on track when it  
came to work.   
  
**********  
  
  
  
When Canary entered the abandoned DMK labs Huntress was already there. She seemed to get  
some amusement out of leaving her behind. Huntress stepped out from some back office as  
Canary stepped into the building.  
  
"Why did you leave me?" Canary asked.   
  
"It isn't my fault you can't keep up," Huntress said. "Besides, there's nothing here anyway,"   
  
"I'll look for myself thank you."  
  
"Oh that's right, because you don't need me anymore."  
  
"What is your problem?"   
  
"I don't have a problem."  
  
"I know what it is. You preferred the whimpering little girl who worshiped the ground you  
walked on. The girl who thought the sun rose and set at your command."  
  
"Oh please, those were your issues, not mine."  
  
She was right on that, so there was no point in fighting that fact. Dinah sighed. "You're right okay, but I don't understand what the problem is. I'm just trying to do the right things and figure out my life."  
  
"You think I don't get that?"  
  
"Obviously you don't."  
  
"All right, that's fine. This was obviously just the fantasy of some little girl. So why don't I just  
go away."   
  
"That's not it. I just don't have time for a lot of distractions."  
  
"Distractions?!" Helena snapped. "Is that what I am?"  
  
"Of course not, I mean..."  
  
"One less distraction. It's over."  
  
"You don't mean that," Canary shot back.   
  
"I guess it's the bird-cat thing, it can't work."  
  
Huntress started to turn away and then they heard it, voices approaching.   
  
"Someone's coming," Canary said.   
  
"I have ears," Huntress snapped back.  
  
"Canary, Huntress," Oracle interrupted. "Can you please save the lover's quarrel for later and see  
who that is."  
  
Both remained silent after that as they quietly crept toward the source of the noise. They saw two  
figures moving into the room next door. They must have come in through the back.  
  
"Wait till you see this, it's sweet," a young male voice said to someone as they slipped into one of  
the lab rooms.   
  
Canary and Huntress followed. They peaked into the window on the lab room door. They saw the  
soft glow of a computer screen. Both the teenage male and what they could now see was a female  
companion were sitting at a table operating the machine. Were they looking for something on the  
old computers? When the doors opened the shocked pair turned on them. The girl was ready to  
fight and pulled out a gun. Dinah easily pulled the gun from her hand using her telekinesis. The  
teenage male was still frozen to his seat as the female companion rushed for the door. Even  
though Huntress knew this one was prepared for a fight she was still caught off guard when the  
woman's fingernails became long and clawlike and slashed at her. The unexpected attack left  
three scratches along the side of her face. A now angry Canary threw a table at her from across  
the room. They weren't too shocked to find out the woman also had enhanced strength, much like  
Huntress. And while the table was an unexpected distraction it wasn't enough to put her out of  
the fight. Huntress managed to drop kick the woman and then she bound her. As if his brain had  
just started to function again, the teenage guy ran for the door and was blocked by Canary.   
  
"Do you really want to try us?" Huntress questioned.   
  
The young man backed up and sat down.   
  
"Huntress, your face," Canary said reaching up to touch the scar.  
  
"I'm fine," she said pushing her partner's hand away. "I'm always fine."  
  
The blond gave up and turned to the young man.   
  
"What are you doing here?" Canary questioned.   
  
"Just getting some computer equipment," the guy said. "I'll leave it."  
  
"Computer equipment?"  
  
"My dad use to work here," the guy said. "He's been out of work since they shut it down. He was  
just a janitor, but the reputation of his former employer followed him anyway. I knew this place  
was abandoned, so I came her to hide out and found all this perfectly good equipment that could  
make me some good money on the black market. She was my contact. I didn't even know about  
that freaky finger thing."  
  
Huntress and Canary looked at each other trying silently to decide what to do with him.   
  
"I'll take care of this one," Huntress said picking up claw lady. "I'll also see if this one has any  
more information to offer."  
  
The unintimidated woman scowled. Huntress made her exit. The young man still looked afraid to  
move. Dinah smiled at him.   
  
"Do you trust me?"  
  
"Um, sure," the guy said relaxed by her smile.   
  
She touched his head and he was relaxed even more. Inside his mind, she made a small  
suggestion. Then she let him go.   
  
"Thanks," the guy said. "I'll do that."  
  
He got up and walked out the door with a smile.   
  
  
  
****  
  
  
Canary got back to the Clocktower before Huntress. She was surprised Huntress wasn't already  
there, despite the sidetrack to the police station.   
  
"You have to stop doing that," Barbara said.   
  
"He was just a kid who wanted to earn some money. He didn't need to go to jail he just needed a  
better way."  
  
"Still, sometimes we have to let people answer for the things they do. Even if we feel sorry for  
them."  
  
Canary stood in silence.  
  
"Do you think she was serious?" Dinah asked.   
  
"Helena? I don't know," Barbara answered. "But both of you knew that wasn't the time for that  
fight."  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
The elevator doors opened and Helena emerged from the elevator and entered the liar. She was  
greeted by Barbara's none-to-pleased face.   
  
"Work this out." Barbara said. "It's affecting your work."  
  
"You don't have to worry about that," Helena said. "There's nothing to work out. I said what I  
needed to say. And right now I'm sure there's someone out there in need of a little ass kicking."  
  
Helena turned out of the clocktower. She didn't see Dinah fighting a tear as she left. Dinah was  
still resisting the urge to cry when the elevator doors closed. A few tears fought there way to her face.  
  
"Give her time to calm down," Barbara told Dinah.   
  
"Why, she's right, she said what she wanted to say," Dinah said.   
  
She wiped away the tears that found there way to her face.   
  
"Now I suppose I have a job to do also."  
  
Dinah turned and left the clocktower.   
  
  
**********  
  
It was nearly morning when Dinah dropped on the terras of Mike's apartment and slipped inside.  
Things were going better for him. A better job allowed him to have heat regularly and his grocery  
bills didn't drain his paycheck. She knew only one face could make her feel better about today.  
She crept into the nursery and was surprised to find Nikki laying awake.   
  
"Hey kid, what are you doing up?"  
  
The baby smiled and stood up in the crib.   
  
"Now I'm calling somebody kid." She laughed to herself. "I miss her calling me kid."  
  
'You miss who?' she thought she heard in her head.   
  
She stared at the baby. "Am I hearing you?"  
  
"I don't know who you are," a male voice said. "But get away from my daughter."  
  
Dinah turned and saw Mike with an energy ball caught between his two hands. Dinah turned  
around with her hands in the air.  
  
"Dinah," he said as the ball vanished. "What are you doing here this lat--" Mike paused looking  
at the clock on the wall. "I mean early. You have classes tomorrow...well today, shouldn't you be  
getting some rest?"  
  
"I'm okay. When you do what I do, you adjust. I wanted to spend time with my girl," Dinah said  
lifting the baby up out of her crib. "She always makes me feel better."  
  
Mike examined her closely. "Dinah, what's wrong?"  
  
"Why is it just when everything seems to be going right, something has to go wrong?"  
  
"What are you--"  
  
"Helena and I, we had a fight," Dinah said.  
  
"Was it bad?"  
  
"As far as she's concerned it's over between us."  
  
Dinah couldn't fight the tear that fell down her face.  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
'Don't cry,' she thought she heard in her head. Nikki touched her cheek. Dinah turned and studied  
the baby's face.   
  
"Mike, have you ever heard her when she wasn't talking."  
  
"What? Dinah are you okay?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm okay. I just must be more tired than I think I am."  
  
"Come on I'll fix you breakfast."  
  
"You're a good friend Mike," Dinah said following him into his kitchen.  
  
  
  
  
When Dinah left Mike's she had just enough time to stop into her room and grab her books before heading to class.  
Every time she entered the closet that called itself a room for two she laughed now knowing the  
jokes about NGU dorms weren't a joke. The rooms were small, it took a fortune to get your  
clothes washed and the food sucked. However, she had eaten at Mikes and planned a trip to  
Burger Mania for lunch. Her roommate, Maniya, was already gone when she got there. They'd  
barely spoken and never seemed to be in the room at the same time. Luckily, her first Tuesday  
class wasn't until eleven, which gave her plenty of time to clean up.   
  
The day came and went. Actually days came and went as she adjusted to her schedule. She spent  
her days working or in class. At night she headed to the clocktower. However, the air there had  
quickly turned cold. She and Helena crossed paths when they needed to and avoided talking  
otherwise. It made the difficult adjustment to this new phase in her life even worse. So to buffer  
it she spent more time with Nikki and Mike. Every once in awhile she still thought she heard  
something from Nikki, but she tried to ignore it. She had never heard someone in her head  
without touching them and she thought she heard something quite a few times when there no physical contact between herself and the child. And this wasn't even like that connection, it was something different.   
  
She had been in school a couple months when Mike called on her to be an emergency babysitter during his  
evening class. It seemed like a good plan until there was a Delphi alert. She quickly threw Nikki's  
stuff into a bag and got to the clocktower as soon as possible. When she got there Barbara was  
alone talking to Huntress over the coms.   
  
"Huntress is already on it," Barbara said. "I'm assuming that's Nikki." Barbara gestured toward  
the baby girl.   
  
Dinah nodded.   
  
"Yeah, she's here," Barbara said in response to Huntress.   
  
"Does she need back up?" Dinah asked.   
  
"She's got it covered for now," Barbara told Dinah.   
  
"Maybe I should go out there anyway."  
  
"Looks like your hands are already full."  
  
"I figured she could stay here while I--."  
  
"No need," Barbara interrupted returning to her conversation with Huntress.   
  
"I'm sorry Helena and I can't get it together," Dinah said. "I'm trying."  
  
"I know," Barbara said to her.  
  
Dinah put the one year old down on a clear spot in the floor and took out some of her toys.   
  
'Thank you' Dinah thought she heard clearly.   
  
"Nikki?" Dinah asked. "Is this real?"-  
  
The little girl smiled. 'Is this your house?' she heard clearly.  
  
"Barbara," Dinah said stepping away from the child. "Is it possible for me to hear someone,  
someone who can't speak, or at least hasn't quite grasped the finer points of the English language,  
telepathically. And I mean without touching them the way I usually do. Almost like psychic  
talking."   
  
Barbara started to say something, but before she could Dinah hit her own head.   
  
"Okay, I sound crazy?"  
  
"No you don't sound crazy. With your abilities it's  
possible."  
  
"But it's not just anyone and everyone. There's this one person I think I keep hearing in my head."  
  
"Not your mother?" Barbara questioned with a note of skepticism.  
  
"No." Dinah said. "I've been so busy I haven't even had time to look into that again." She turned  
toward the baby girl on the floor. The baby looked back at them.   
  
"Nikki?" Barbara questioned. "Can you hear her now?"  
  
"It's not like reading her mind. It's like talking. She lets me hear what she wants me to hear."  
  
"Daddy," Nikki said.  
  
"Okay, I heard that and that's not what You're talking about?"  
  
"No, I'm hearing words very clearly my head. Things like 'don't cry' and 'thank you. Even sentences she couldn't begin to put together at this point. Little things, but still not something a baby her age can say clearly. It's like  
it's coming from her and she's just found some channel inside me where she can send signals."  
  
"You may have hit the nail on the head. In fact your abilities may be allowing it. She may have some mental ability like  
yours that's hasn't really developed so your abilities are allowing this psychic link. After all Nikki's father is a metahuman. We have every reason to believe Nikki will one day develop some extraordinary ability, why not mental  
abilities?"  
  
Dinah turned to the little girl. "Are you talking to me kid?"  
  
'I think so' she heard clearly.  
  
  
*********  
  
Huntress wasn't looking forward to returning to the Clocktower to check in with Oracle. She  
wasn't looking forward to seeing Dinah there. She wasn't suppose to get attached to the girl.  
Barbara and herself got along just fine until little miss sunshine came through the door. What did  
they need another Canary for? She knew letting anyone to close only lead to trouble, but she let the kid in anyway. Why the hell did she put herself out there again? She hoped Dinah  
wouldn't be there by the time she got there, she hoped for just a little longer she could avoid the  
young blond and focus on the only escape she had, this job.  
  
Unfortunately she entered in the middle of a little project between Dinah and Barbara. Dinah was  
wearing a metal ring of some sort around her head, it was hooked to Barbara's computer. The  
little baby, she recognized as Mike's daughter, was wearing the same and there was a little table  
between them.   
  
"Helena, you have to see this," Barbara said, obviously temporarily oblivious of the fact she  
didn't want to see Dinah and her amazing bag of tricks.   
  
Dinah sat three plastic animals in front of the baby. It was a puppy, a Zebra, and a horse. Dinah  
named each animal a held it up for the baby.  
  
"What's your favorite?" Dinah asked.   
  
A few seconds later Dinah wrote something on a piece of paper and folded it.   
  
"Now pick it up Nikki."   
  
Nikki picked up the Zebra. Dinah showed Barbara the sheet of paper. It said 'Zebra'.  
  
"What the hell is going on here?" Huntress asked.  
  
'Your friend is here,' Nikki communicated to Dinah as she removed the device.   
  
"Yes she is," Dinah replied.   
  
"Dinah and the baby have a psychic connection. She can talk to her," Barbara told Helena.  
  
'She seems mad,' Nikki in communicated to Dinah. 'Is it cause of me?'  
  
"No," Dinah replied picking her up.   
  
"How often do you see something like that from a child this young?" Barbara asked Helena.   
  
"So what are we going to do? Sign Nikki up for the team and make her an honorary junior member?" Helena asked.   
  
Barbara shook her head.  
  
"I bet we can if we start training tommorow we can train her to crawl at super speed," Helena added with sarcasam.   
  
Dinah rolled her eyes.  
  
"Why do you always have to do that?" Dinah asked.   
  
"Do what? Point out the obvious," Helena replied. "Great for you and Mike and your little baby  
genius. Now you don't have to guess what the kid wants."  
  
Dinah shook her head. She checked her watch. It was time to head back so she put Nikki on the  
floor and began collecting the child's Stuff. "We'll be out of your way soon enough. So you don't  
have to be excited about our little pointless experiment.  
  
Nikki picked up her big stuffed pony and walked it over to Dinah.   
  
'Dinah, make it dance.' Nikki said. 'Your friend won't be mad anymore.'  
  
"Won't work on her Nikki," Dinah replied. "That only works on you."  
  
"You're hearing her now?" Barbara asked.   
  
"I guess now that I know I'm not crazy I'm letting myself hear her. As soon as I drop her off I'll be  
ready for sweeps."  
  
Nikki ran over to Helena and tried to give her the stuffed horse. Dinah picked up the little girl  
from where she stood.   
  
"She doesn't want it Nik," Dinah told the baby. Then she sighed and turned to Helena. "She  
wants you to keep him until he makes you smile," Dinah said seriously.   
  
"Thanks, I guess," Helena said taking at the stuffed animal.   
  
"Looking forward to seeing you again Nikki," Barbara told her. She turned to Dinah. "Still, next  
time your otherwise occupied call me before rushing over here with a baby on your hip."  
  
"I guess it wasn't realistic for me to think I had time for babysitting anyway. Speaking of that,  
should I tell Mike what we can do?"  
  
"I'll leave that at your discretion."  
  
"Say Bye-Bye," Dinah said.   
  
"Bye-Bye," the little girl said.   
  
"Did everyone hear that?" Dinah asked.   
  
They confirmed they did with a nod.   
  
"Just checking," Dinah said as she walked out the door.   
  
Helena stared at the little horse in her hand and then at the young woman leaving the clocktower.  
Then she sat the horse down and left the clocktower herself. Barbara didn't know what to say. She just hoped things would work out in there own time.   
  
  
***********  
  
'Your friend doesn't like me,' Nikki communicated to Dinah as they reached Mike's apartment door.   
  
"I wouldn't say that," Dinah said unlocking the doors.   
  
"Daddy," Nikki yelled as they came through the door.   
  
"Where have you been?!" Mike yelled.   
  
"There was problem, I had to check in," Dinah told Mike.   
  
"I really wish you wouldn't do that. She's getting older and more impressionable."  
  
"I didn't go into an alley and beat up some thugs with her strapped to my back if that's what you  
think."  
  
"Of course I know you didn't do that, but..." he looked at his little girl. "Listen, I love that You're  
that female role model for her Dinah. And I respect that you do what do. I accept certain things  
about your life, but I don't want her involved all of it."  
  
"You've always trusted me with her. What is going on?"  
  
There was silence on his end.   
  
'Is Daddy okay?' Dinah heard from Nikki.  
  
"Please tell me this isn't about my relationship with Helena," Dinah said looking at him.  
"Because you were totally cool with that most of senior year. And now You're flipping out and  
we're not even together?"  
  
"This isn't about what went on with Helena. It's about Nikki and you and me. We're her whole  
world Dinah. When I first became a dad I was just trying to get through the day okay. But now I  
realize I'm responsible for a life on this planet. That's huge. With her walking and starting to talk  
I'm learning everything she's sees and hears is going to affect her as a person. And that whole  
environment isn't good for her."  
  
"Barbara and Helena are the strongest most independent women I know. I thought that would be  
the best thing for a little girl to see."   
  
'Don't fight,' little Nikki said.   
  
"I don't mind her knowing you as a person or them. But your other 'self' I guess you call it, she'll  
see that and only see the 'fun' part of it. I don't know what kind of ability she may develop, if she  
ever develops one, but I don't want her to think her only outlet for it is a dangerous lifestyle."  
  
"Fine, I'm not figthing with you. You're her father, I'm not her mother. You have a right to say what you do and don't want  
her exposed to. Do you have a sitter for Wednesday?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm okay on Wednesday."  
  
"Alright," Dinah said to him. She kneeled down to Nikki. "Hey, sometimes grown ups have  
arguments. It doesn't mean they don't like each other, okay?"   
  
Nikki smiled back at her and gave her a hug. Dinah kissed her head and left the apartment.   
  
***********  
  
Night surrounded Huntress as she kept surveillance on an old shut down furniture store. The  
people she had been seeking were inside and so was there victim. Huntress heard the other  
woman land almost noiselessly on the roof behind her. Her landings weren't very graceful, then  
again she didn't have any metahuman abilities that granted her ease at running across rooftops.  
She'd worked hard on learning how to make the grappling device behave the way she wished.  
  
"What's going on?" Canary said approaching Huntress where she stooped on the edge of a  
building.   
  
"You finish talking with your husband?"  
  
"Don't start that," Canary replied. "We have work to do, so lets just do it okay."  
  
"While you and Oracle were playing with the kid I was trying to find this kid. He's the son  
of a Senator Bass. He was kidnaped last night. He's in there and still alive as far as I can tell."  
  
"And the kidnappers."  
  
"Two guys and a girl. One guy dropped off the ransom note earlier, wasn't to bright, didn't even  
suspect I was following him. He's standing guard out front right now, but he seems to be the  
errand boy in general. The woman, I call her Lady Boss, is either suspicious or paranoid, she's  
constantly checking to see what's going on. I think she's the brains here. She always has the errand boy  
make the phone calls. I guess she doesn't want to get her hands dirty. The younger guy I'm not  
sure about, he's mostly stayed inside. I only got a glimpse of him in passing."  
  
"How old is the little boy they kidnaped?"  
  
"Six"  
  
"Do you know what room he's in?"  
  
"Back room, right there." Huntress pointed to the rear of the building. "Like I said, the younger  
guy seems to be keeping him company or keeping watch on him. I'm not sure if he's armed. The  
woman is carrying a gun, she possibly has another weapon in her boot, I saw her checking it. I  
have no idea what it is, could be a switchblade, could be small pistol of some sort. The guy out  
front, our errand boy, also has a concealed weapon. It's under his coat. I'd be careful with that  
one. I don't trust his trigger finger."  
  
"Alright, so how are we going to get this little boy out without getting him hurt?"  
  
"Wait for Lady Boss to check on the boys inside, it's about time for that. Then she'll come out front to  
check in with errand boy. I'll approach from the roof over there and use that back window to get  
in the room with the boys. The younger guy is a wild card, but I don't think there's anything he  
can do that I can't handle if you can cover Lady Boss and errand boy."  
  
"No problem," Canary said. "Hey, I missed you partner."  
  
Huntress really looked over at her for the first time since she'd joined her. She couldn't help smiling at  
her young ally. Canary smiled back. Canary put a hand out Huntress grabbed it and they  
embraced.   
  
"I missed you too Baby Bird," Huntress said  
  
"Glad to hear some peace between you two," Oracle said in both there ears.  
  
"Yeah the team is back on track," Canary said.   
  
"Yeah, whatever, we can have a make up party later. Let's get this little boy home to his  
parents," Huntress said.   
  
They departed from the surveillance location.  
  
  
  
  
Errand boy paced in front of the building, looking around to see if anyone was watching. At first  
Canary thought he was keeping look out, but he seemed to make sure Lady Boss wasn't coming  
downstairs before he lit what seemed to be a cigarette. Canary looked across from her and saw a  
mannequin.   
  
"Perfect," she whispered.   
  
She focused on it and it moved. The movement had it's desired effect, Errand boy spotted it.   
  
"Who's there?" he yelled pulling out his weapon.   
  
He stepped forward. Seconds later he tripped over a small piece of some old machinery and the gun flew from his hand and fired. She hadn't expected that, the bullet hit a wall and she pulled the gun toward her in the air and sent it spinning into a dumpster. The confused man didn't see where his weapon had gone and searched the ground. Lady Boss must have responded to the gun firing and ran out the door.   
  
"What are you doing," Lady Boss yelled kicking the man.  
  
"I thought I saw someone and then I fell... and then... I kinda lost the gun."  
  
"Idiot," she grunted helping him up.  
  
Lady boss looked around for the person her companion thought he saw. Her hand was on her  
weapon. Canary didn't know how quick she would be to draw. She moved the dummy again and  
Lady Boss pulled her weapon and fired. The bullet went right through the dummy's head. They  
then both came closer to take a better look at what she shot. Canary figured she was the type to  
shoot first and ask questions later. It would take some careful aiming, but she thought she could  
kill, or at least knock down, two birds with one stone. Canary picked up her bird-a-rang and  
kissed it.   
  
"Do what you need to do," she said softly and tossed the weapon.   
  
They barely heard the whistle in the air before the weapon made contact with the back of their  
heads. The two then lay unconscious on the ground.   
  
Meanwhile...  
Huntress had just landed on the roof when she heard the first shot. She fought the  
instinct to check on Canary when she heard Lady Boss departing back toward the sound of the  
gunshot. She knew the kid had to come first. She dropped down toward the window and peaked  
in the room. She saw that the younger watchdog was much younger than she suspected. About 15  
or so was her best guest. He had a shot gun and he was standing in front of the six year old, who  
sat with his hands and feet bound.   
  
"Is everything okay?" the bound child asked the teenage boy almost as if he trusted him.  
  
"I don't know KJ. My mom's checking it out."  
  
Huntress slipped toward the little boy and he saw her. She put a finger to her lips to hush him as she  
approached the teenager from behind.  
  
"Wait, don't hurt him," the little boy yelled.  
  
The teenager turned around. Huntress grabbed for the weapon just as they heard another shot fire  
outside.   
  
"Mom," the boy said distracted.   
  
The boy's grip loosened Huntress got the weapon free, but the barrel came around and hit him in  
the face and he fell on the floor.  
  
"Alex!" the little boy yelled.   
  
Huntress ran to the little boy. She untied him and picked him up, ready to leave. The child seemed to be fighting her. The kid may have felt he had to protect the teenager for some odd reason, but her only concern was getting the  
little boy out.  
  
"I know you may have liked that guy, but he kidnaped you and we're going to take you home."  
  
"You don't understand. He's my brother."  
  
"What?"  
  
"That can't be," Oracle said. "The Senator only has one son. Canary you there?"  
  
"Yeah," Canary chimed in. Huntress tried to fight the smile that came with the relief of knowing  
neither bullet had landed in her young partner.   
  
"I just tied up Lady boss and her errand boy." Canary said. "They're still out cold though. How's  
the other one?"  
  
Huntress looked at the boy. He was groaning, but still conscious. He looked at Huntress and  
backed up to the wall scared.  
  
"You okay KJ?" The older boy asked nervously.  
  
"Yeah," the little boy replied.  
  
Canary came through the door then and spotted Huntress holding the six year old. He got free of  
Helena and ran to the teenager.  
  
"You got hit good Alex," the little boy said touching the bruise left by his contact with the  
weapon.   
  
"Yeah, but I guess it's time for you to go home," Alex said. "I won't do nothin'," he said to  
Helena. "I promise. You can take him back. Just don't take me to jail."  
  
"Well, even if you wanted to do something, you couldn't," Helena told him. "But I'm curious, I  
want to know why this little boy thinks you're his brother."  
  
"Because I am and I can prove it," Alex said.   
  
Alex got up and pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. "It's a DNA test my mom gave to me. See about 13  
years ago my mom and his father were together. He had just started law school and my mom was  
just some waitress. I guess my mom wasn't good enough to marry. He didn't even believe I was  
his son until my mom had that DNA test done secretly. See she's got a sister who works at  
New Gotham General, she worked on dad once and since he would never claim me so she had to sneak  
around to get that DNA test done. That was only a year ago. All he wanted to do was throw  
money at her to go away, but mom, she wanted me to have everything KJ has. The name, the  
father, a right to an inheritance, everything. She thought if she took away his second born he'd stop pretendin' KJ was his only son."  
  
"Please don't put Alex in jail," six year old KJ asked. "He made it not scary to be here."  
  
"Is he telling the truth?" Huntress asked Canary.  
  
"Lets see," Canary said approaching him.  
  
The 13 year old looked nervous.  
  
"It's okay," Canary said with a smile. "Just relax."  
  
The smile relaxed him. She touched his head gently and pulled away a minute later.   
  
"It's all true," Canary said. "At least as far as he knows."  
  
"So am I going to a detention center or a children's shelter again?"  
  
Canary looked at Huntress. It was obvious the thirteen year old was a victim of circumstances  
beyond his control.   
  
"Oracle," Canary said. "Are you okay with us calling in a favor on this one?"  
  
"Do what you have to," Oracle replied  
  
  
  
  
The Bass household lit up when there was a knock on the door in the middle of the night. One of  
the cops on duty answered the door. Since they were waiting to be contacted by the kidnappers,  
they were shocked to find a detective at the door with the boy.   
  
"Senator Bass," the cop called and the man came running to the door his wife joined him.  
  
"Kevin," the man yelled. His wife was on his heals running to the little boy.   
  
"Thank you Detective...?"  
  
"Reese," the detective replied. "So this is little boy is your minor child Kevin Bass Junior?"  
  
"Yes, this is him."  
  
His mother was examining him.   
  
"I'm okay," the little boy said to Mrs. Bass.   
  
"But how?"  
  
"You can thank your other child for this," Reese continued. "Thirteen year old Alex."   
  
Alex stepped from behind the detective. The Senator looked baffled. His wife looked at him  
confused.   
  
"I'm sure you'd be willing to provide a home for your oldest child since his mother will  
unfortunately be arrested for kidnaping and perhaps going to jail for a long time."  
  
"Alex protected me mommy. Please don't be mad at him," the young boy said to his mother.  
  
Alex stared at the ground shyly.   
  
"Officer I can assure you this boy is not my--."  
  
"I have a copy of the DNA test sir," Reese said taking out a piece of paper. "And the way it was  
conducted is questionable and you could contest it, but sooner or later we'd be right here again,  
comparing your DNA to this boys and you know what we would find. Now you can take him  
now and make up your own cover story to make this okay. Or you can put this boy through more  
pain and I'd hate to see what that does to your reputation by the time the next election roles  
around."  
  
The wife snatched the DNA test from the detective.   
  
"This is your son?" the wife asked.   
  
The Senator didn't answer.   
  
"He took care of me daddy," KJ said  
  
"He's my son," the Senator said.   
  
"Come on, it's okay," little Kevin said reaching for his hand.  
  
He led his big brother in the house.   
  
"Thank you," the senator said and closed the doors behind him.   
  
Reese walked off the property and was greeted by Canary and Huntress.   
  
"Thanks a lot," Canary said.   
  
"No problem, all of us know a bit about broken homes don't we."   
  
He half smiled and walked off. Reese was still a friend of the group, but he hadn't quite adjusted to seeing Helena and Dinah together.  
  
"You headin' back to Mike's now?" Huntress asked.  
  
"Why would you think that?"   
  
"I know that's where you go. Not to the dorm. That's just where your books live."  
  
"I'm not interested in Mike. I thought you knew that."  
  
"I don't care if you are. I mean marry him, quit crime fighting, raise little Nikki up to be a  
respectable citizen. Settle into some little dream life."  
  
"This is my dream life," Dinah replied.  
  
"It is not and you know it," Huntress said walking away.   
  
Canary grabbed her arm and she stopped.  
  
"Maybe a part of me wishes I could just be happy finishing that little picture perfect family,  
but that's not me and you know that. This is me. And maybe the life has its moments where it's hard and it seems  
like it's draining you and you just want to say screw it all. But tonight, we did something good for  
a little boy. We let him take his big brother home. Those are the moments where I know it's worth it.  
And that's my dream, not some ready made family. At least not one with Mike."  
  
Huntress turned to face her. Their eyes locked on each other.  
  
"Then why do you go to his bed as soon as we're done here?" Huntress asked.  
  
"I don't go to his bed. The truth - I hate my dorm room, so you're right the books live there.  
Barbara's place just remind me how much I miss... besides, I wanted to move out. Isn't that what I  
was suppose to do. I mean you moved out, you stayed close but you found your own life. When I didn't have anything else to make me smile I had that little girl. So I go to Mike's house and I sit in the rocking chair in Nikki's room and I'm okay.  
When I find time to sleep, it's usually in that chair." The young blond stepped closer. "I don't  
go anywhere near Mike's bed. I love Mike, I love being with Mike and Nikki, but not... like that.  
He's not the one. He's just... not the one."  
  
Huntress pulled her young partner close. Canary had been waiting for this moment. The energy  
had been growing between them from the moment they were a team again. When there lips met  
Dinah was swept away into a feeling that she'd almost forgotten, almost. She could never truly  
forget the feeling Helena gave her. Whatever was in question at this point in there lives, this feeling was  
still right. Helena suddenly broke the kiss. Before Dinah could process the abrupt end to it, she  
was gone.   
  
Almost gone, but not quite gone. Helena wouldn't leave her mind all night or the next day. She  
actually made it back to her door room that night. It was actually almost daylight when she fell in  
the bed. Her roommate was surprised to see her. She got up ten minutes before her first class. She  
hadn't done the required reading, but that day she didn't much care.   
  
She was tired for a lot of reasons when she made her way to Mike's that afternoon. Mike was  
scooping some noodles into a bowl when he heard the doorbell ring..  
  
"Dinah," Mike said pleasantly surprised to see her. "Don't you usually find yourself some other way in?"  
  
"Wanted to be normal today," Dinah replied.  
  
Suddenly something small ran into her legs and she stumbled back a bit.  
  
'I'm glad You're here,' Dinah heard from the little girl.   
  
"Me too," she said smiling down at the child.   
  
"You too what?" Mike questioned.   
  
"Nothing," Dinah replied. She'd decided not to tell Mike about herself and the little girl. It might  
lead to discussions about Barbara and her other self.   
  
She smiled down at the child cherishing there little secret. She picked up the little girl and  
walked into the apartment. Dinah sat her at the table and Nikki returned to her noodle meal. Mike  
offered Dinah something to eat and she refused. She mostly sat around and listened to Mike talk  
hardly listening. She wished she could just fit here. This was the kind of family she  
dreamed of as a little girl. She wished she could be the one to give Nikki a mother, but she  
knew this place was just an escape, a place she went so she wouldn't have to deal with everything  
else.   
  
She didn't know when she dozed off, but as she lay there watching the baby girl  
she slipped off into dream land.  
  
  
  
  
A loud bang awoke Dinah from her sleep. It was like lightening cracking through her dreams.  
And then there was a loud scream and cry. Suddenly she was on her feet. A blanket Mike must have put on  
her shoulders fell to the floor. It was dark outside. How long had she been asleep?  
  
She still heard crying. Nikki? She ran into Nikki's room and nearly screamed herself. Nikki  
stood in her crib crying. Mike lay on the floor not moving. He was bleeding from what looked  
like a gunshot wound to the head.   
  
"Oh no, Mike," she said leaning over the body on the floor.   
  
She quickly searched for a pulse and found there was none.   
  
"No," Dinah said shaking her head. "You can't be dead. You can't be dead."  
  
Nikki was still crying. Suddenly Dinah realized she shouldn't be looking at this and grabbed her  
out of the crib. She took her into the hallway. She broke into tears herself unable to really  
comfort the crying baby, but trying to find the strength.  
  
"What happened Nikki?"  
  
'Noise outside.' Dinah heard from the little girl. 'It scared me. Daddy came to get me. Then he  
fell.'  
  
"I was right here," Dinah said to the little girl. "How could this have happened? I was right here."  
  
"Dinah," she heard a familiar voice say coming in.   
  
She looked up and saw Helena coming through the door.   
  
"Damn, I was right." she said to herself. "Is everyone okay?" she asked.  
  
Dinah looked toward Nikki's room. Helena went over and peaked in.   
  
"Damn," she cursed. She ran in the room obviously checking Mike for a pulse.   
  
Helena returned to the hallway. She looked down at the crying Dinah and the baby she held. The  
baby's screams of fear had turned to quiet sobs.   
  
"Come here," she said to Dinah.  
  
Dinah walked toward her with the baby in her arms. Helena took her in her arms and gave her a  
comforting kiss on the forehead.   
  
"It'll be okay Baby Bird," Helena said. "I'll be okay."  
  
Dinah had never been so glad to slip into those arms. Nikki seem  
to get some comfort from this contact too. They both needed someone to be strong for the  
moment and neither one of them could do it.  
  
  
  
  
An hour later Dinah was sitting in the clocktower. She was still holding Nikki who had fallen asleep at  
some point in the evening. Dinah was still trying to process the information she had been given.  
It all seemed so unreal. Helena had went back to Mike's to get some of Nikki's things and Dinah was sitting with Barbara.  
  
"So the cops were just chasing some idiots and a stray bullet shot Mike in the head. I can't  
believe that"  
  
"That's all. A horrible accident," Barbara told her. "No one was gunning for Mike or his  
apartment."  
  
"I can't accept that. I mean... Nikki's father. There has to be someone to blame."  
  
"Dinah you need to rest," Barbara said. "Maybe you should--"  
  
"Rest. If I hadn't fallen asleep maybe I could have saved him."  
  
She looked down at Nikki.   
  
"He tried so hard," Dinah said. "And now he's gone. For no good reason." Dinah looked at the  
baby girl. "What's going to happen to her?"  
  
"We'll figure that out later."  
  
  
  
  
An hour later Helena was back. She set up the travel crib she had gotten from Mike's place in the living room. Dinah slipped the baby girl inside the crib.   
  
"I think you need this back kid," Helena said placing the stuffed horse beside the sleeping youngster.  
  
"How do I tell her. Even if I can talk to her, how to I explain what I don't even understand?"  
Dinah asked.   
  
"You'll figure it out. I've seen you with this kid. You love her." Helena turned toward Dinah. "I guess now, you're her mom."  
  
"Mom." Dinah frowned. "Don't make me that. I saw Mike go it alone, it was hard."  
  
"He didn't go it alone. You were there to help him."  
  
"The big job was his. I don't know if I can do it."  
  
"You can do anything." Helena put out a hand and gently caressed her face. "That's what I love about you. You get it in your head to do something and you do it. ?And if it gets to hard you have me."  
  
"You don't want to help me raise a kid," Dinah said looking down at Nikki.   
  
"Don't tell me what I want," Helena said pulling her close. "You always try to shut me out like  
that. Every time something pops up, you want to be strong and handle it on your own. You don't have to do that. How many times have I said that?"   
  
"You do it too Helena. "  
  
"Maybe I do, but we're a team and not just out there on the streets. Look  
what happened to Mike was just pointless and horrible. But when shit likes that happens it makes  
you think. You were in that apartment Dinah. And as sorry as I feel for that little girl I'm fucking  
glad that bullet didn't go through your head. And you can hate me for that, but it's how I feel."  
  
"How can I hate you. I love you. I still think the sun rises and sets at your command."  
  
Helena smiled. Dinah leaned forward and captured the other woman's lips in a brief kiss. Helena took her hand and led her into the bedroom next door, Dinah's old room. It was bare  
without Dinah's stuff. But the bed was still there just in case Dinah popped in. Helena laid in the  
bed and pulled Dinah on top of her. Dinah's hands searched for contact with the other woman's  
skin under the tank top. Helena's hands were already at her waist trying to free her from the  
confines of her pants.   
  
"Wait," Dinah said.   
  
Dinah pulled away and looked down at Helena.   
  
"I'm sorry stupid things got between us," Dinah said.   
  
"Can we save the make up talk for later and have the make up sex now."  
  
They laughed happy to see the light back in each others eyes. There was a spark of it last night,  
but tonight they found each other for real. Helena pulled Dinah back down to her lips. Seconds  
later a cry interrupted them.   
  
"Nikki," Dinah said as the kiss broke.   
  
The cry came again. They kissed once more as the cry got louder. Dinah pulled herself from the  
bed and went bback to Nikki. Barbara was in there holding Nikki  
but she was still crying her head off until she saw Dinah. She scrambled to get into Dinah's arms.  
  
'I'm scared. Don't leave me,' Nikki said only to Dinah.  
  
"I thought you and Helena were--"  
  
"We were--At least we were going to--"  
  
"Yeah," Barbara finished.  
  
Barbara saw Nikki quiet down in Dinah's arms.   
  
"I guess I'm just not mommy," Barbara said.   
  
"I'm not either," Dinah said slipping a nearby chair. "She knows I'm not her mommy."  
  
"Sure, just like Helena wasn't Mommy to Guy."  
  
Dinah smiled. "What am I going to do? I mean would they even let me have her?"  
  
"Do you want her?"  
  
"I don't know," Dinah said looking at the baby. "Does that sound horrible?"  
  
"No, Dinah You're not even in your twenties yet. It's okay if you think You're not ready for this.  
I'm sure they'll find her a good home. If you want I'll find her a good home."  
  
"I wish I was okay with that, but I'm not. I know she's okay with me. With another family... I  
don't know anything. My mom thought I was okay with the Redmonds and look what happened. I  
don't want Nikki to end up with anyone like the Redmonds. How can I thought. I  
live in a dorm."  
  
"You can move back in here," Barbara said.  
  
"And I my life is not really made for a baby. I'm just really starting out as a crime fighter. I mean  
compared to you and Helena I'm still a rookie. And Nikki's only a baby, It's not like when you  
took in Helena and I. She can't carry her own weight."  
  
Barbara moved her chair closer and put a comforting hand on Dinah's shoulder. "If you want to  
do this, I know you can. Nikki's a special baby who's formed a very special bond with you,"  
Barbara told her. "But at the same time this is huge. She won't grow up overnight like Guy. This  
is years of care and commitment. But You're not alone in this Dinah, remember that. Decide  
what you want and we'll handle it like we always do, together."  
  
Barbara left the room. Dinah moved to the couch with the baby in her arms. She made herself  
comfortable. Nikki was still afraid and she could feel it. She wouldn't get back to Helena tonight. As  
she settled down with the little girl Helena joined her.   
  
"Sorry," Dinah said. "She needed me."  
  
"It's okay," Helena said leaning down to give Dinah a brief kiss.   
  
Helena curled up with Dinah on the couch and eventually they all drifted off to sleep.   
  
  
  
Dinah didn't know if it was reality or a dream that bought her here. But here she was in an empty  
playground with Nikki.  
  
"Is this a dream?" Dinah asked no one in particular.  
  
"Are we going to see daddy when we wake up?"  
  
The voice was familiar. She figured she had formed some link with Nikki in there sleeping state.  
  
"No," Dinah said. "Daddy can't ... see he's kind of... he's gone."  
  
"Gone where."  
  
"Gone to a place where people go when there bodies can't keep them here anymore."  
  
"Can we go?"  
  
"No, because we still... we're still alive. Daddy isn't anymore."  
  
"I don't understand. Will I ever see him again?"  
  
"Maybe, but hopefully not for a long long time. Not until You're not alive anymore."  
  
"Who's gonna take care of me?"  
  
"I was kind of thinking maybe you could stay with us. I'd do all the things daddy did and Helena and Barbara would help  
me. Would you like that?"  
  
"Helena doesn't like me."  
  
"I don't think that's true, but if it helps she didn't like me much at first either."  
  
"But you kiss Helena all the time."  
  
Dinah laughed "Well now we have a very special grown up relationship."  
  
The two of them sat in silence for awhile. It seemed the more they communicated the better Nikki  
learned how to communicate with her, at least mentally. This was different in general. They  
usually communicated awake, not through a dream. But Dinah knew the communication was real.  
  
"I want my daddy, but if daddy can't come back. I want you to be daddy."  
  
  
  
**********  
  
  
The next morning was an odd one. Helena tried to convince her to stay home, but Barbara was  
gone so she had no back up in her argument. Nikki sat eating dry cereal out of a bowl and  
watching TV as Dinah rushed around the kitchen looking for what she needed for school.   
  
"You know You're allowed to miss a day," Helena told her. "You had ahard night."  
  
"If I stop I have to figure out a way to start again and I don't want to do that."  
  
"Daddy," Nikki said holding up her bowl to Dinah.  
  
"Why does she call you daddy?" Helena asked.   
  
"We talked last night through a dream," Dinah told her. "She said she wanted me to be her new  
daddy. I don't think she makes a gender association with it. Daddy took care of her and now I  
said I would, so...daddy." She turned to Nikki. "Helena will give you more cereal."  
  
"You sure you don't want to stay home with her," Helena questioned nervously looking at the  
baby girl. She put a little more cereal in the bowl.  
  
"I have to go to class, Barbara's at work," Dinah said. "I'll come back right after. You did a great  
job with Guy when we had him."  
  
"That was a couple years ago and Guy did me the favor of growing up fast. I think it's safe to say Nikki won't wake up a 12 year old." Helena looked at the baby girl. "Little kids I can handle a bit, but a baby honestly scares me.  
They're so little and needy and I can't exactly talk to her the way you can."  
  
"You'll be fine."  
  
Dinah kissed Nikki on the head.  
  
"Bye Nikki," Dinah said.  
  
'Please remember to come back,' Nikki sent into her head.   
  
'I will be back,' Dinah sent back.   
  
She turned to Nikki and smiled. It was the first time she'd spoken back mentally. Dinah walked out the door and Nikki sat smiling at Helena.  
  
"Okay kid," Helena told her. "I'm not really great with babies. Now you can talk a little and you  
can walk a little, which helps. So if you want something you may have to work a bit to tell me."  
  
"BaBa," Nikki said.   
  
"What?"  
  
"Duce BaBa."  
  
Nikki reached for a bottle on the table.   
  
"BaBa Duce," Nikki said shaking the bottle.  
  
"Oh, Juice."   
  
Helena took the bottle and filled it with Juice.  
  
"See kid we can figure this out."  
  
Helena handed Nikki the bottle.   
  
"Now it's time for a little lesson kid. See Mommies are girls and daddies are usually boys. So how  
about we call Dinah mommy and not daddy."  
  
Nikki laughed. "Daddy."  
  
"No, not me, no way."  
  
  
***********  
  
Barbara assumed Dinah had stayed with Nikki all day, so she was surprised when she met Dinah  
as she was walking toward the building where they lived.  
  
"I went to class," Dinah said  
  
"Where's the baby?" Barbara asked.  
  
"With Helena," Dinah replied."She has everything she needs. I made sure of that before I left. I  
actually need to go buy some pampers tonight."  
  
"So you made a decision."  
  
"Last night she spoke to me in a dream. I can't take that connection away from her."  
  
They entered the building and got on the elevator.   
  
"I called  
social services and let them know the little girl was okay and with a close family friend. A social  
worker is coming by this evening."  
  
"So this is it. Guess I'm moving back in."  
  
"What about you and Helena?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Well, if You're going to be a mom some decisions need to be made. You're right, you and  
Helena were different, you were teenagers and nearly grown when I became responsible for you. This is a one year old baby. she's  
going to need to feel some security in Mommy and Mommy's life. If the two of you are going to  
be involved, it's not going to be the same."  
  
They entered the penthouse and froze. Helena was asleep on the couch with the baby girl laying  
in her arms. It was really sweet seeing the little girl curled up in Helena's arms, her little head on  
Helena's chest. As if she sensed her Nikki's eyes came open.  
  
"Daddy," Nikki said with a big grin.   
  
"Shhh!" Dinah said getting the baby girl.  
  
'Helena likes me' Nikki communicated.  
  
'I told you she would' Dinah told her.  
  
Helena's eyes came open. She saw the big grin on Barbara and Dinah's face.   
  
"What?" Helena said. "What?"  
  
"A social worker is coming by this evening," Dinah said with her smile dropping.   
  
"They're not going to take her...are they?" Helena questioned.  
  
"No, they're not just going to snatch her," Barbara said. "But they're not just going to give her to a  
19 year old either. Especially since she's not family, at least by blood."  
  
Dinah sighed and looked at the baby girl.   
  
"If push comes to shove, could you work your little Oracle magic."  
  
"Dinah it wouldn't be that easy."  
  
"But not impossible?" Dinah asked.  
  
"We can make it a last resort, okay."  
  
"Okay," Dinah replied. She turned to Nikki. "Bath time."  
  
Dinah walked off with the baby girl in her arms.   
  
"She's not letting herself mourn," Barbara said to Helena..  
  
"She can't. She has to be strong for her kid."  
  
"I'm trying to be okay with this. I liked Mike, I respected what he did and I think that little girl is  
amazing, but I don't know. She shouldn't have to give her life up to raise a child that isn't hers at  
age 19."  
  
"You know we grow up fast in this life. She can do this."  
  
"I hope so."  
  
  
The social worker came by that evening. She talked with all of them for a long time and she  
found the home to be safe. In the end she decided in the end to make Barbara Gordon the temporary  
guardian. She felt it was the easiest way to go while they were exhausting the family option. Mike's only living parent was in  
jail and he had no siblings. Kelly had lived in group homes for most of her life and no one knew  
where she was or what family she had alive, if any.   
  
After the social worker left Dinah took Nikki into her old room and sat Nikki beside her on the  
bed. Helena was working (her paying job) and Barbara was checking over some essays from  
the kids in her class, so she and the little girl were really alone for the first time in days. Dinah  
dug out the picture of her mother.   
  
"I want you to see someone," Dinah told her. "This is my mom. We're kind of alike Nikki. My mom left me too. She had to let me go when I was  
a little girl or at least she thought she did to protect me. She made a mistake. I'm going to try not  
to make that mistake with you."  
  
'I saw your mommy,' Nikki communicated.   
  
"When?"  
  
'The day daddy wore a dress.'  
  
"A dress? Graduation?"  
  
'When you got the paper I saw her.'  
  
"She was watching me," Dinah smiled. "You saw her?"  
  
'She's here now,' Nikki replied.  
  
"What?" Dinah said.   
  
She looked up and saw her mother, exactly as she was in the picture. Dinah stood up and reached  
for the image but her hand went right through it.   
  
'And there's daddy," Nikki communicated.  
  
Suddenly Mike was standing there. It was a clear vision of him prom day. Dinah turned toward the baby.  
  
"You? You're seeing it in my head, aren't You? But how did You?"  
  
Nikki smiled.   
  
"Your gift. You must be able to somehow be able to project images from your mind and you've been inside my mind. Maybe that was the moment it happened... the moment we  
connected. Graduation?"  
  
'Are Mommies always ladies?' Nikki mentally asked, not shocked by any of this. But of course  
she didn't know any of this was unusual.   
  
"Yeah, ladies are usually the mommy."  
  
'Are you my Mommy?' Nikki questioned mentally.  
  
Barbara entered the room.   
  
"Hey, I'm heading to the clocktower. You two okay?"   
  
"Barbara I did see my mother on graduation day," Dinah said. "But not like I thought."  
  
"What do You mean?"  
  
"Nikki did it."  
  
  
  
  
It was shocking, but hard to once again let go of the hope her mother would return to her. Nikki helped her say good-bye though. She realized now she was a mother. Dinah took Mike's place at his next single parents meeting. He'd join the group over the summer  
when someone recommended it to him. It was a good group for him, but Dinah felt out of place  
showing up in his place. She didn't know there struggles, she'd only had Nikki a few days.  
She told them what happened and what she was planning to do for Nikki. Everyone said they were sorry about what happened to Mike. They asked Dinah to join them. She tried to refuse, but the group leader asked her to stay and talk about what it was like to be a single parent.   
  
"I'm glad You're accepting me," Dinah told the group. "I almost feel like I don't belong here. I  
mean I didn't give birth to little Nikki here. I didn't go through labor and everything like You girls  
did, I just met a guy who had a little girl and needed a friend. I'm still scared and surprised  
everyone turns to me to know what to do when she cries or when she needs something."  
  
"That's not unusual," a woman beside her said. "When I bought my son home I was like 'where's  
the instruction manual'. Don't think You're any less of a mother because of the way You got  
here."  
  
"Yeah," another woman said. "The fact that you stepped in the way you did gives you every right to be her mother. I mean if Mike hadn't told me otherwise I would have thought she was your daughter anyway."  
  
"I'm a mother...wow," Dinah said looking at the little girl. "I'm your mother."  
  
"Mommy" Nikki said verbally with a smile.  
  
  
******  
  
Dinah came home to a delphi alert. Huntress was already prepared in the  
clocktower as she entered with the baby on her hip.  
  
"Robbery," Barbara said to her.   
  
Helena looked at the baby girl Dinah was holding as she approached therm.   
  
"I'll take care of it," Huntress said.  
  
"Leave her with me," Barbara said taking Nikki from Dinah.   
  
"No, it's okay, I'll st--" Dinah began.  
  
"We can make this work," Barbara told her. "Nikki's one of us now."  
  
Nikki looked unsure as she sat in Barbara's lap. 'Where are You going?'she questioned.  
  
'It's okay,' Dinah said touching the little girl. 'You stay with Aunt Barbara for awhile. I'll be back,  
I promise.'  
  
********  
  
Huntress and Canary arrived at the museum as quickly as possible. They reached the building  
across the street from the museum just as the cops were approaching.   
  
"The place is crawling with cops," Huntress said to Oracle.   
  
"Looks like our favorite detective is among them," Canary entered.   
  
"I'll see what he knows," Huntress said running off.   
  
Seconds after Helena left Dinah thought she heard something towards the back of the building.  
She slipped in that direction barely ducking a male and female detective sharing some silly  
work-related joke that only someone in the department would get.   
  
"What the hell?" she said to herself.   
  
"Canary?" Barbara questioned.   
  
"I heard something," Canary replied softly. "I don't see anyone though. Huntress, I might need back up.  
I don't know what I'm dealing with."  
  
"I'm on my way," Huntress replied.   
  
Canary thought she heard a noise moving up the wall of a nearby building. She could feel it,  
there was someone else, they had to be invisible or had otherwise found a way to hide themselves. She walked away from the sound so she wouldn't let the guy know she was on to him, but she stayed close. Just then Huntress joined her in the alley.  
  
"What's going on?" Huntress questioned.   
  
"Shhh," Canary said softly. "Listen, behind us."  
  
After a few minutes Huntress heard a sudden sound too.   
  
"You're right," Huntress whispered.  
  
Canary smiled and pulled out her bird-a-rang. She closed her eyes and listened quietly for the  
slightest movement. It was still moving behind her up the wall. She reached out with her senses and  
then kissed the bird-a-rang.   
  
"Do what I need You to do."  
  
Huntress still didn't understand this little ritual she and the bird-a-rang had. The whatever on the  
wall started moving again. In a split second Canary turned, flung the bird-a-rang, and they heard  
it hit someone. There was an electronic like glitch of a form on the side of the building. And then  
it fell. It was back on it's feet seconds after the fall. It appeared the suit was the source of his  
power, not any meta-ability. It allowed him to blend into the background like a chameleon. The  
glitches of the suit had revealed that. But the broken suit didn't stop him, he threw a dart of some  
sort in there direction. Dinah threw up her hand and the dart froze mid air and went spinning  
back toward it's owner. Huntress got in a punch that caused him to  
stumble and then he fell to the ground. Huntress ripped off the hood of his suit.  
Dinah was shocked to find it was the young guy she'd let go before. The one looking to steal  
computer equipment from that shut down lab.   
  
"I thought You were going legit," Canary said. "And when did You get so strong."  
  
"Legit doesn't pay well and it's the suit. It's good for a little more that blending me to the  
background."  
  
"I You were right Oracle," Dinah replied. "Well now You're going to jail," Canary said to the  
boy, disgusted. "God... You try to help a guy."  
  
The blond shook her head and she and Huntress brought him to his feet. Canary saw his bag was  
still laying on the ground and leaned down to pick it up. Suddenly Huntress saw the glint of  
something silver appear in the guys hand. Just as Huntress was about to shout a warning an  
unexpected shock came from a device in the glove of his other hand. This caused her partner to  
turn and she received a cut across the face. What he didn't realize was that he had barely stunned  
Huntress and with eyes changed through rage she was slamming him against the wall seconds  
after he drew blood. Canary stood there in shock catching the blood from her cheek while an  
enraged Huntress beat the man against the wall. Suddenly Canary saw she was drawing blood  
from the young thief.   
  
"Huntress!" Canary said softly.  
  
She didn't seem to hear her.   
  
"Huntress! Stop!" Canary yelled reaching for her arm.   
  
Huntress stopped, though she wasn't sure if it was her will or Canary's. When she let the guy go  
he sunk to the floor.   
  
"Hey, what's going on back there?" an unknown voice said.   
  
Canary looked at the blood in her hands the blood from her own cheek.  
  
"I can't do this," Canary said snatching off her comm set and running off.   
  
"Cana--" Huntress began than stopped realizing it was pointless. She picked up the com set and she ran after her.   
  
"What's wrong?" Oracle asked Huntress.   
  
Huntress finally caught her in an alley and pulled her to a stop. Canary leaned against the wall.   
  
"I can't do this anymore."  
  
"What are You talking about?" Huntress asked turning off communication with Barbara too. She  
felt like this needed to be a one on one conversation.  
  
"I saw the knife Helena and my mind went right to... your mother."  
  
"Why would You..." Helena said.   
  
"I was there! I mean I wasn't really there, but I saw it!" Dinah yelled. "I saw her. I saw You. And knowing You, knowing more  
about all the things that led up to that moment and every thing You felt since. I know I can't be both, I  
can't walk out that door knowing I may not come back to that little girl."  
  
"You're saying You want to give up," Helena said backing up. "For as long as I've known You,  
this is all you've said You ever wanted to do. You've been hurt before, worse than a little cut on  
the cheek. And You want to quit now."  
  
"How can You not understand. She just lost her dad. If I'm going to be her mother. I'm going to  
do it right."  
  
"What? Like your mother, my mother, they're both dead. And You know what made those  
situations worse? It was the lies. And it wasn't just the lies they told to us, it was the lie they told  
themselves. They thought if we didn't know it could never effect us, but that didn't work did it?  
The things they never told us were the things that changed us the most."  
  
"Helena You don't understand. You don't need me out here, but she needs me now. There's  
nobody else."  
  
"How can You say that? You're my..." Huntress sighed. "You know what. Fuck You."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Fuck You. I knew this would happen."  
  
"I'm going to be someone's mother," Dinah said approaching her. She reached out but her hand  
was slapped away.   
  
"And she needs You. I get that, but new flash. I do too. Maybe it's You that doesn't need me  
anymore."  
  
"You need me?" Dinah asked in disbelief.   
  
Helena didn't reply  
  
"Helena, I don't want to quit, I have to," Dinah said reaching for her. "I need You to know that."  
  
Helena's eyes met hers. "That's bullshit. You don't do anything you don't want to do. I know You love the kid. I get it okay."  
  
"I know I was meant to be here," Dinah said. "In this city with all it's problems. And I know I was  
meant to be with You. But now this happened and I want to do the right thing, but I don't know what  
that is. I'm the mother, there's no one for me to turn to because somebody's turning to me."  
  
"That's not true. You can turn to me."  
  
Helena turned toward her. She pulled her close and kissed softly on the lips. Dinah returned the  
gentle kiss.   
  
"I know that and I love You," Dinah said softly.   
  
Dinah met her lips again. She wanted to hold onto something real. Dinah was pushed against the  
wall with her partners body pressed tight against hers. The meeting of there two bodies was almost  
desperate. A last chance to say to each other how much the other was wanted and need. The kiss  
became more and more intense. Helena's hands moved to loosen the young woman's pants and  
she moved her hand inside under her lover's panties. Dinah knew they were vulnerable, they  
could get caught here in this exposed place, but she didn't care. She held onto Helena and  
begged her to continue in-between soft moans and murmurs. It had been to long and so much had  
happened since they were together like this.   
  
  
  
Late in the night Dinah sat looking down at the little red headed girl. She didn't know if she could  
do this, but she knew she couldn't take a chance Nikki would end up with someone like the  
Redmonds. She also couldn't give up being Canary. It had been hard arriving back at the  
clocktower and explaining the sloppy way they had handled the thief. Then to top it off they had run off  
and cut off communication for reasons they only half disclosed. It turns out the cops had picked  
him up and discovered he was the thief they were after.  
  
"Tonight was my fault," a familiar voice said.   
  
"What?" Dinah said looking up at Barbara.   
  
"I shouldn't have let you go out there knowing your head was elsewhere. I should know better."  
  
"It's like you said Barbara. I'm not a kid anymore. I'm the one that should have known better."  
They stood in silence for a moment. "Do you think I can do this? Be the Canary and be a mother."  
  
"I don't know," Barbara replied. "Honestly, I wouldn't wish it on you. Your life is just starting. I  
don't think you should have to add a baby to it. But at the end of the day I knew you couldn't let  
this Child go." Barbara paused for a moment. "And Helena believes you can do it."  
  
"She really does?"  
  
"Yeah. I don't think she has any doubt at all."  
  
Dinah smiled. "I wish I had that much faith in myself. This isn't just a baby, it's person. I do one  
thing wrong and a human being is permanently affected. It just hit me out of nowhere."  
  
"And that's good. It's important to see the weight of what you're taking on, but remember all any  
parent can do is there best."  
  
"At least I'm not alone."  
  
Dinah smiled and gave Barbara a parting hug. Helena entered as Barbara left.   
  
"You coming to bed?" Helena asked.  
  
"Just making sure she's sleep," Dinah said. "I don't know how I'm going to do this."  
  
"We're going to do this. We're a family. Families figure it out."  
  
"I don't know how Kelly left her," Dinah said. "I mean I can understand being scared, but I  
couldn't imagine letting her go."  
  
"And that's what makes you her mother, not Kelly," Helena told her. She looked down at the little  
girl. "She kind of looks like Barbara doesn't she?"  
  
Dinah examined the baby. "The hair, the eyes, I guess she kinda does."  
  
"Your kid looks like Barbara. Should I worry about you two?"  
  
"Shut up," Dinah said with a grin.   
  
Dinah turned on the baby monitor and headed out the room with Helena.   
  
END 


	4. Nikki Lance

Title: Nikki Lance  
Author: EV  
Rating: PG  
Pairing: Dinah/Helena  
Time line: Follows in the series of events that began with "Stolen Innocence", "Rush", and Family. (seven years after the last story in this series).  
Disclaimer: The Birds of Prey TV series belongs to the WB and some other people that aren't me.  
  
Feedback: I'm a feedback junkie and I need any fix I can get.  
  
Summary: Dinah and Helena's sucure life changes when Kelly Williams returns for her child.   
  
authors note: How does one little fun Helena/Dinah fall in love/adventure story become this? I don't know. Anyway, there's a running question in my head, how far do I mature Dinah. It's hard because she's 26 here. This story really evolved away from anything I planned? I hadn't planned on killing off Mike in the previous story. In fact, I hadn't planned on Mike and his young daughter being important at all, but I started a B-story with Mike and Nikki that evolved into something that needed completion.  
So I felt like I couldn't say I was done until I finished that story. And one important person had yet to make an appearence despite all the times she was mentioned, Kelly. The mother who abandonned her child simply because she was metahuman.  
  


* * *

  
  
Canary fumbled to lift the thumb print. The light was horrible in the cellar, but it was the closest they'd come to finding evidence of this serial killer and she wasn't leaving it up to the Gotham PD to actually do there job.   
  
"Canary, the cops are on there way," a young voice said in her earpiece. "Get out of there."  
  
"Thanks sweetheart," Canary replied.   
  
"Not sweetheart mom, don't call me that," the young voice replied.   
  
"What should I call you?" Canary said slipping from the basement.   
  
"I don't know, something cool. Like Princess Knight."  
  
"Princess Knight?" Canary questioned.   
  
"Who are you to talk? You're named after a bird."  
  
Dinah smiled as she escaped through the basement exit. She didn't know when she became the 26 year old mother of an 8 year old, but it was hard to remember the time before that. Her adopted daughter, Nikki Lance, was the greatest joy in her life and despite the fact she'd taken on the responsibility as a nineteen year old freshman in college, she didn't regret a day of it. It had been a hard adjustment. She had to quit her job just so she could juggle school, crime fighting, and taking care of Nikki. It was exhausting until Nikki started school and she could finally breath a bit. She started working again when Nikki went to school, bartending. Barbara thought work was an excuse to goof off with her girlfriend and maybe it had been. But being a superhero, a parent, and in graduate school didn't lend itself to much granting you much free time. Since Helena now owned the bar, she gave her a job and taught her the ropes, but it also gave her some flexibility with hours. She was amazed at how willingly Helena had stepped in to help with Nikki. Dinah didn't feel comfortable demanding anything of Helena. She made the decision to be Nikki's mother and she accepted that. Helena had seemed uncomfortable with Nikki as a toddler. Barbara had been more helpful in the early years, especially since Nikki started to see her powers mature at such a young age. Barbara was at first intrigued by Nikki, but then she fell in love with her. Helena seemed more comfortable with Nikki as she got older and became more of a little person with her own mind.   
  
Dinah's psychic connection to Nikki had developed as the child developed. Nikki now knew how to shut her thoughts out and she seemed to prefer real talking to telepathic talking, but in moment of great distress Dinah could feel what Nikki was feeling. Soon they were out of practice and things seem to come across as feelings more than words. She wished Mike were here to see all that the little girl had become, but who knows how he would feel. He didn't like the idea of his daughter being impressed by the superhero life. When Dinah adopted her she decided hiding it was pointless. She had thought about making a secret, but neither herself or Helena had benefitted from not knowing who there mother's were. If anything the secret had hurt in the long run. From a young age, Nikki understood the importance of secrets and she'd never told anyone about the clocktower or her mother's secret life.   
"I'm on my way back," Canary replied. "Bath and Bed after this."  
  
"But Oracle and Huntress are away? Shouldn't I be watching your back till you get home."  
  
"I'm not going to have you falling asleep in class. You've been a help, now go brush your teeth and get ready for bed."  
  
"Alright bird lady I'll brush my teeth, but I'm not going to bed till you're back. Okay?"  
  
"Okay."  
  
  
  
Nikki reluctantly slid from the chair and landed on the floor. She didn't like leaving her mother alone out there. The Clocktower was too empty. Barbara had been gone for a month to help out some people in Metropolis. Then Helena had to leave town to follow up a case. The Clocktower was too quiet and her mother had never held down the city alone, so she wanted to help. She opened the locket around her neck. Her mother had given it to her on her fifth birthday. There was a picture of her father inside.   
  
"Dad, I worry about my mom sometimes," Nikki said softly.   
  
"Don't worry Nikki. Your mom's pretty tough," a familiar voice said.   
  
Nikki looked up with a big grin on her face. "Helena," Nikki exclaimed running into her arms.   
  
Helena gave her a big hug and lifted her in the air.  
  
"You're getting heavy kid."  
  
Nikki laughed. "Mom said you use to call her kid."  
  
"I still do sometimes."  
  
"But you two are like the same age. You're old ladies."  
  
"I'll show you an old lady if you say that again," Helena told her.   
  
Nikki grinned. "I'm kidding, but I just can't imagine you calling mom kid."  
  
"Well Dinah was our baby bird for awhile."  
  
"Now I'm the baby bird," Nikki said with a grin.   
  
"Nah, you're the little monster," Helena said tickling her.   
  
Nikki broke into giggles. Dinah walked in on the giggling child and her girlfriend. She smiled at  
them.   
  
"Mommy," Nikki said when she saw her watching them. "Helena's back."  
  
"I see," Dinah said slipping off her jacket and putting the fingerprint kit to the side. "I also see you're not ready for bed."  
  
Nikki groaned and she ran off to get ready for bed.   
  
"So when did Nikki become honey I shrunk the Oracle?" Helena asked.  
  
"She wanted to do something. Barbara's in Metropolis, you were in Edge City. Better to have her watching me from up here then worrying about her getting into trouble in the penthouse." Dinah said. "So did you find your guy?"  
  
"Yeah, looks like the bad guys after him got to him first. He's dead."  
  
"Too bad," Dinah sighed.   
  
"Enough work talk," Helena said walking up to her. "I missed my baby bird."  
  
"She missed you too," Dinah replied.   
  
There lips met sharing there soft, familiar caress. Helena could hardly believe there was a time she'd tried to convince herself she hated this lovely woman. One day she's a troublesome teen trying to run with the big girls, the next day she's raising a kid and keeping New Gotham criminals in check alone. All the things she conquered and accomplished on the road of becoming a crime fighter and motherhood made her stronger, more passionate, more beautiful. And Helena couldn't believe she was in love, not like this anyway. It had never been like this.   
  
"Ooops," Nikki's little voice said with a giggle as she walked in on there kiss. The kiss broke with the little girls giggles.   
  
"What are you doing back up here?" Dinah asked. "You aren't going to get up in the morning."  
  
"I just wanted to give you this?" Nikki said handing her a peice of paper.  
  
"Not another list," Dinah replied.  
  
"I just want you to think about it."  
  
"Think about what?" Helena questioned.   
  
"I want a little brother," Nikki said.  
  
"A what?" Helena questioned.  
  
"Nikki," Dinah told her. "I told you're all the kid I need. Now go to bed."  
  
Nikki frowned and headed to bed. Helena and Dinah watched her leave.   
  
"So she wants a baby brother?" Helena asked.   
  
"Yeah," Dinah said sadly. "That will be great, a pregnant Black Canary."  
  
"It's happened before. I mean don't you want a kid, your kid I mean?"  
  
"I'm still in school, We're talking diapers and formula again. Besides, Nikki is my kid in the only way it matters."  
  
"I know, but you know what I mean. Your eyes, your ears, your grandmother's nose."  
  
Dinah laughed. "My grandmother's nose. How would I even know?" She paused a moment. "Do you want that? A baby I mean."  
  
"I don't know." Helena said. "I guess I've thought about it. But then I think I have to take care of a baby and the thought leaves. Still I'd hate to be the last of the Kyle line."   
  
"Or the Wayne line," Dinah added.  
  
"Anyway, the clock is ticking."  
  
"I just don't see the point of pregnancy," Dinah said. "I mean there's little kids out there looking for families. If you have a choice in the whole planning of expanding your family. Get one of those kids. Why try to create a new life just so you can say 'we share DNA'."  
  
"So you would you ever adopt another kid, a little boy maybe?"  
  
"I don't know," Dinah said. "Nikki was special. She wasn't planned, she just belonged Why are you even asking? You're not a baby person."  
  
"You're right, but I think she's lonely," Helena said. "I mean I know what it's like to be an only child. She's a bright kid, but she's still a kid. She wants to feel close to someone her age."  
  
"We can't exactly bring in some six year old and expect him to realize like Nikki, the importance  
of the secret."  
  
"First of all, we've taken a risk being open with her. Nik's eight Dinah. Most eight year olds I know would be dying to tell their friends about the secret life of her super cool mommy."  
  
"Maybe you're right. Maybe Nikki needs someone. It's just ... I just know I'm not ready to be the whole 'single mother of two'."  
  
  
****  
Morning drifted into the penthouse as Nikki sat at the kitchen table eating breakfast. Helena walked into the dining room. Dinah had an early class, so for the past week Nikki went to school with the woman next door and her daughter Dee. Since Helena was back she didn't have to worry about dealing with the girl downstairs who hated her. She was relieved to see her in the kitchen this morning.  
  
"Guess what? I dreamed about my little brother again," Nikki told Helena. "He seems so real in the dream, like he's already around and I just got to find him. You want to see what he looks like?"   
  
"Sure," Helena shrugged.   
  
Nikki smiled and closed her eyes. She focused on the image in her head and then opened her eyes. A boy a head shorter than herself stood in front of her. If Helena was standing at a distance she would have sworn there were two chidren in the room.   
  
"You're getting good at that little illusion thing you do," Helena said.  
  
"Thanks, Princess Knight is going to be kick ass one day."  
  
"Hey," Helena said. "Watch your language."  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"And please don't call yourself Princess Knight."  
  
"How about Lady knight?" Nikki asked as she tossed her breakfast plate away.   
  
Helena threw Nikki's bookbag at her and she caught it. The image Nikki had projected of a little boy disolved.   
  
"Let's go," Helena said.  
  
"I know Knight Rider."  
  
"That was an old TV show about a talking car," Helena said as they walked out the door.   
  
"It was, cool maybe I could get one of those, a talking car I mean. Didn't Batman have one?"  
  
"The Batmobile didn't talk... at least I don't think it did."  
  
"We could call it the KnightMobile."  
  
"Give it up kid."  
  
"I'm just kidding."  
  
  
  
Nikki passed Dee in the hall and they shared a polite wave. When Dee saw Helena she knew she wouldn't be forced to share a ride to school. Dee hated her ever since first grade when she accidentally spilled paint on her new shirt. She was civil to her when her mother drove her to school, but ignored her in school. Going to school with Dee and her mother wasn't fun. What was  
worse was the forced invite every year to Dee's party. Thank goodness Helena was back. The week she was gone felt like a lifetime. But it wasn't just going to school, Nikki liked when Helena was around in general. Her mother seemed happier. Things could be great with just the two of them, but better with Helena and home seemed so empty with Aunt Barbara away. Aunt  
Barbara seemed to know everything and she loved being around her and learning all she could about operations in the Clocktower. She seemed to be the least annoyed when she strung together a series of Why? questions.   
  
Plus, Mom learned from Aunt Barbara, Helena learned from Aunt Barbara, and she wanted to be the next one in that line of superheros. She knew her mother always wanted her to have a normal life to avoid the hardships of the superhero life. These past couple days where her mother consented to let her try out the Oracle station she felt like she was where she belonged. There was only one thing she wanted more than to be a real member of the team, a friend.   
  
"Helena."   
  
"What Nik?"  
  
"Do you think I'll be able to get a little brother?"  
  
"Well, it's not exactly something you can order."  
  
"I know where babies come from."  
  
"You do?" Helena replied shocked.   
  
"I asked and mom she told me," Nikki said. "I know Mom doesn't have a husband, but there's lots of other ways to get kids, right?"  
  
"Yeah, but you know people like to think about it. When your mom adopted you, we didn't have much time to think."  
  
"If Mom doesn't want to be pregnant, maybe you can have my baby brother. You can move in with us and the two of you can have a baby and you two can raise it and I can help. You practicaly live with Mom and Aunt Barbara anyway, why not make it official."  
  
"You know what we do Nikki. Do you really think we could do it pregnant?"  
  
"I don't know. It's only nine months. Black Canary had mommy, Catwoman had you. I mean how much trouble could happen in nine months?"  
  
"Nine months is how many days?"  
  
Nikki paused a moment. "About 270," Nikki said.  
  
"That's a lot of time isn't it?"  
  
"I guess," Nikki said.   
  
"We love you Nik and we don't regret a day of it. But when you were a little baby it wasn't too easy. A baby is a lot of work and a lot of time I'm not sure we have. Your mom isn't even finish school yet."  
  
"That's not a problem, I'm a big girl now, I could take care of the baby."  
  
"You're only eight Nikki. There's just some things you can't do."  
  
"I'm not getting a baby brother am I?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
Nikki smiled. Anything was better than a flat out no like the ones she got from mom. They had reached the school. Nikki frowned as Helena parked.   
  
"Everything okay kid."  
  
"I suppose," Nik said. "Did you have a lot of friends in School?"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Never mind," Nikki said. "Bye Helena."  
  
"Alright Nik," Helena said. "See you later."  
  
They hugged.   
  
"Are you coming to pick me up?"  
  
"Depends."  
  
"You think we could train some more when you get home."  
  
"You know your mom doesn't like me training you to fight."  
  
"I know, but she and Barbara teach me all kinds of stuff."  
  
"None of that involves fighting."  
  
"I know, but I'm not gonna be a bully. Besides I want to be just like you, Aunt Barbara, and mom  
when I grow up."   
  
"You know you don't have to be right?"  
  
"Yeah, I know, mom says I could do anything, but it's like she means anything but what she is."  
  
"It's not a pretty life Nikki, it just looks like it from the outside."  
  
"But you think I could do it, right? When I'm big if I wanted too."  
  
"Nik, you're just like your mother. I'm pretty sure if you want it bad enough when you're old  
enough, no one will be able to stop you."  
  
Nikki smiled. "Thanks."  
  
"Love you kid," Helena said.  
  
"Love you too," Nikki said.   
  
They shared a quick hug. Nikki ran into the school.   
  
  
Waiting, the woman had been waiting hoping she would be able to figure out which child was the one she was looking for. And then she appeared and there was no question. She saw the little girl climb out of the car. She didn't have to ask herself which child it was because this little girl looked exactly like she did when she was a little girl. Her red hair, her nose, her eyes, her mouth were all an exact match for her own so many years ago. It was amazing how physically alike they were. She wondered if the child hated her, especially since after Mike died she wasn't there. The child seemed so normal. She didn't know what she expected, but as a scared teenager she'd been afraid Nikki would be anything but normal. Afraid of a harmless baby girl. Now looking at her she wanted to say I'm sorry a thousand times.   
  
"She doesn't know you Kelly," Daria had said as she wrote down the name of the school. How could the child not know her, she knew the child as soon as she saw her.   
  
She saw a woman with dark hair approach the school. She was wearing shades so Kelly didn't know if she had ever seen her before. Nikki looked happy to see her until a teacher approached the woman.   
  
  
**  
  
  
Helena hated when she was forced into a teacher conference. And when she arrived at the school the teacher was holding Nikki hostage in the classroom. When a teacher reported bad behavior she never knew if she should raise her voice, promise severe punishment when she got home, or look at her and say 'we're going to tell your mother'.  
  
"Are you Miss Lance?" the teacher asked approaching Helena.   
  
"I told you she's not my mom," Nikki snapped. "I'm not a liar."  
  
"Nik, don't talk to a teacher like that," Helena told the child.  
  
"Sorry Helena," Nikki said. Nikki turned to the teacher "She's my mom's girlfriend, okay."  
  
"Well...ummm," the teacher said. "She gave a young boy a bloody nose today."   
  
"He was picking on me," Nikki said. "Shan's always picking on me."  
  
Helena tried to supress a smile at the thought of sweet little Nikki beating up some boy bully.   
  
"I told you Nikki," the teacher said. "Words don't send people to the hospital."  
  
"Sent him there," she mumbled.   
  
The teacher looked annoyed. "Please give this note to her mother and ask her to come in tommorow morning."  
  
The teacher left.   
  
"Who's that?" Helena asked.   
  
"A substitute, Mrs. Crawford, she's new. She doesn't know what a big jerk Shan is."  
  
"Even if he is, you know better," Helena said. "You're going to have to tell your mother about it."  
  
"I didn't mean to bloody his nose. I only hit him once. He threw garbage at me yesterday and because he got all his friends to say he didn't, no one believed me. I'm not a liar."  
  
"I know," Helena said.   
  
"When he started again today, I just snapped. I'm sorry."  
  
"If you popped the boy he proably deserved it."  
  
"So what exactly are we going to tell mom?" Nikki asked.   
  
"The truth," Helena told her. "But leave out the part where I said the boy deserved it? And remeber to pout a lot and say I'm sorry and --"  
  
"I'll never do it again."  
  
"You're a smart kid."  
  
Nikki laughed.   
  
  
*****  
  
  
"This is your fault," Canary said as they patroled the streets that night.   
  
"The boy threw trash at her," Huntress replied. "I think he deserved it."  
  
"I do too, but that's what the teachers and administrators are there for."  
  
"If we lived by that logic we'd let the cops handle the criminals. But we don't, do we? Sometimes you have to step up and defend yourself. Besides, Nikki telling the teacher and it didn't work."  
  
Dinah sighed. "I just don't want Mike to be right."  
  
"About?"   
  
"About Nikki thinking she has to be like us... to be one of us. Sometimes I think just like he said, she sees what we're doing and it's fun in her eyes. She doesn't see the rest of it."  
  
"So she's a lot like you," Helena told her.   
  
"What?"  
  
"When you first got here, you wanted in, but you didn't know what you were asking for. You were this giddly teenager who thought the life was so glamorous. You learned fast that it wasn't, but you didn't quit. Neither one of us is planning on taking baby girl out for sweeps tommorow or in two or three years, so don't worry about it. Maybe by fifteen or sixteen spending her nights dealing with sleaze and getting dirty with Gotham scum won't be so appealing. And if it is still appealing, would it be so bad. You turned out okay. She's a good kid. She isn't going to turn into some elementary school vigilante."  
  
"I hope you're right," Canary replied. "It's just sometimes I think she would be better off with a normal family. Maybe I ruined her by taking her in. Maybe I shouldn't have adopted her"  
  
"Canary don't--"  
  
Suddenly the two women heard a scream and whatever Huntress was going to say was cut short.  
  
"Duty calls," Canary said.  
  
  
What they didn't know was Nikki had been listening. She was suppose to be in bed, but she thought a trip to the Clocktower to listen in on her mother and Helena would be harmless. It hurt her to know her mother regreted adopting her.   
  
"I better go to bed before I get in more trouble," Nikki said to herself.  
  
  
*********  
  
  
Dinah awoke to a knock on her door. She felt the weight on the bed beside her and smiled to herself. She had forgotten how wonderful it was to wake up in Helena's arms, her head resting on the other woman's chest.  
  
"Come on in," Dinah said sitting up in bed.   
  
Nikki came in and crawled on the bed between Dinah and Helena.   
  
"Know what?" Nikki said.   
  
"What?"  
  
"I decided I don't need a baby brother, but maybe I could get a pet."  
  
"That might work" Dinah said. "Maybe something low maintence. A goldfish."  
  
"A fish. You can't play with fish," Nikki said.  
  
"You know the kid wants like a dog or something," Helena added.   
  
"Dogs are a lot of responsibility," Dinah said. "How about a Hamster?"  
  
"How about a guinea pig," Nikki said. "They're big enough to hold and nice and fuzzy, but they live in cages so they don't always have to be underfoot."  
  
"Okay a guinea pig, but only if you promise no more fights."   
  
"Okay," Nikki replied. "But it wasn't really a fight. I hit him and he hit the ground."  
  
Nikki smiled and Dinah tried not to laugh at her. Helena laughed. Nikki sat up and hugged her.   
  
"I'm sorry, no more fighting, I love you mom."  
  
"Love you too," Dinah said.   
  
"You too Helena," Nikki said giving Helena a hug.   
  
She slid off the bed and ran out the room.   
  
"You know she still wants a little brother, don't you?" Helena said.  
  
"Yeah, but maybe a pet will help."  
  
  
  
  
That day Dinah drove Nikki to school. She had to talk to the teacher, which meant rearranging her day. Nikki saw Shan and his friends watching her as she approached the school. The morning bell still hadn't rung and most kids were still running around the playground area, but Dinah marched her right in the school. It wasn't as bad as Nikki expected. Her mom had a way of  
bringing warmth into the room with her. Her mother said it wasn't always that way, Helena said Dinah was always Miss Sunshine until she got pissed off and then watch out. Barbara said Dinah never realized that little gift she had for making people smile. Nikki appologized to the teacher for causing a disruption and explained her position. With her mother there supporting her the teacher seemed to understand Nikki wasn't lying before. The teacher found Shan, bought him in, and the three of them had a talk in private. In the end each child appologized and Nikki and Shan shook hands, but Nikki doubted Shan would stop picking on her.   
  
The day actually wasn't too bad after that. Shan ignored her and she was allowed to dwell in her usual school day solitude. After school she sat and waited on the steps. Shan happen to be there even after his friends went home. He slid closer to her. His nose was still bandaged from yesterday.   
  
"Why are you over here?" Nikki asked.   
  
"Cause I want to be." Shan said.   
  
They sat in silence for a few more seconds.  
  
"I'm really sorry 'bout that," Nikki finally said.   
  
"It's nothin'," Shan replied. "You got a pretty good punch for a girl."  
  
"Helena taught me," Nikki said.   
  
"That's your other mom right? The one with the dark hair."  
  
"Well, sorta, I have one mom. Helena's just my mom's girlfriend."  
  
"So what do you call her?"  
  
"Helena," Nikki replied.   
  
"I guess calling two people mom would be confusing."  
  
"It's not that. It's just.. okay like if your mom was dating or your dad was dating, it wouldn't make that other person your mom or dad. Even though I guess Helena kinda is."  
  
"Maybe it's better that you call her Helena. My mom always has me calling her new boyfriends daddy," Shan said. "I know who my real daddy is and it's not any of her boyfriends. But she hates my dad, so I pretend to hate him too."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Why what?"  
  
"Why would you pretend to hate someone if you don't hate them?"  
  
"Cause it's makes mom happy."  
  
They sat in silence awhile longer. A car horn honked.   
  
"That's my mom," Shan said. "Hey Nik, I just threw trash at you so the other boys would think I was cool. I thought you'd be an easy target. Thanks for making me wrong."  
  
He waved good-bye and Nikki sat on the steps alone. She thought about going in to use the phone, but it wasn't the first time she had been picked up late so she sat and waited.   
  
"Excuse me," an adult voice said. Nikki turned toward it. The woman looked about her mother's age. She was a red-head, well dressed, but she looked a bit worn around the eyes. "You're Nikki right?"  
  
"Do I know you?"  
  
"You use to," the woman replied.   
  
Nikki didn't like the way the woman was looking at her.  
  
"I don't talk to strangers and if you try to grab me I'll scream."  
  
"Nikki I knew Mike."  
  
"Ho-How did you know my dad?" Nikki asked nervously.  
  
"Look at me, I'm you," the woman said.   
  
Nikki thought that was a weird thing to say, but she looked at her. Everyone always said she was the spitting image of Kelly, maybe ...   
  
"Kelly?" Nikki questioned. It was just a guess, but a guess made in fear of it being true.   
  
Kelly couldn't belive the child she'd given birth to was looking at her like a stranger. She wanted to grab her and hug her and appologize for being so stupid, but she saw the child was still afraid. Afraid of her own mother? It wasn't right.   
  
"Nikki," someone called from across the playground.   
  
It was her real mother's voice. Nikki turned and ran to the voice she knew so well.   
  
"Sorry, I was suppose to pick you up, but--" She paused feeling the fear in Nikki.  
  
"Mom," Nikki said. "Kelly's over there."  
  
"Kelly? Your mother Kelly?"  
  
Dinah looked up and saw the woman standing on the playground. Now Nikki could feel the anger surging through her mother. Kelly approached them slowly.   
  
"Dinah? I can hardly believe it's you," Kelly said. "Then again we didn't really get to know each other. I mean last I saw you were running out of the school caferteria. I didn't go to school much, but that was an interesting day."  
  
Nikki hid behind Dinah. She didn't know this woman and it bothered her that she was here.  
  
"Nikki, go wait in the car," Dinah said.   
  
Nikki ran into the vehicle. Dinah waited until she heard the door close.  
  
"How dare you," Dinah said. "How dare you just show up?"  
  
"I'm sorry I never meant to speak to her at all, but I just wanted to explain."  
  
Dinah calmed herself. She was beyond going on a temper tantrum. Not to many years ago she might have let anger get the better of her.   
  
"Why are you here?"  
  
"I just wanted to see her, know that she was okay. When I found out Mike was dead, I just needed--. So I tracked down one of my old friends and I found out about the adoption. I thought then I'll never see her. But she knew where she was. Daria was angry at me because I left Nicole, but she didn't understand. After I found out what Mike was all I could see was a baby that might be some kind of monster. I couldn't handle that."  
  
"And you thought Mike could?"   
  
"He was one of those... things."  
  
"Things? Your daughter. No, my daughter is one of those things. So am I and so is the woman I've been with for most of Nikki's life. Nikki's not a thing Kelly. Mike wasn't a thing. None of us are things. And just so you know, Nikki's gift is harmless."  
  
"It's not like Mike's?"  
  
"No. She's Nikki Lance now, not Nikki Williams. Let it be."  
  
Dinah turned to walk away.   
  
"Wait," Kelly said. Dinah paused. "I know what I did was unforgivable and perhaps Nikki will never forgive me, but at least let me open the door for her and she can walk through if she wants. You're right, she's Nikki Lance and as far back as she can remember that's what she's been, but if she ever wants to ask the question, I want her to come to the source. Give me a dinner, one dinner, or maybe a lunch, a brunch, I don't care."  
  
Dinah walked to woman and pulled a card from her pocket. "My number and e-mail is on there. Now, I have to get Nikki home."  
  
Dinah walked to the car and climbed in. She sported a fake smile for Nikki's sake.   
  
"I know she upset you too," Nikki said.   
  
"I'm okay," Dinah said.   
  
"Mom, this is me," Nikki said. They sat in silence a moment. "Kelly's not going to take me, is  
she?"  
  
"No," Dinah said. "You're Nikki Lance."  
  
"Your daughter," Nikki added with a smile.  
  
***  
  
"What do you mean she deserves a chance?" Helena yelled at her in the bedroom that night. "Dinah she abandoned the kid! She called us 'things'!"  
  
"The fact is Nikki isn't mine, she's hers."  
  
"You think she'd point to that woman if you and Kelly were standing side by side and someone asked Nik who her mother was?"  
  
"I don't know," Dinah said.   
  
"I know who Nikki's mother is and it's not Kelly. Kelly Williams wasn't sitting with her on sleepless nights and craming for classes inbetween feedings. She didn't change diapers, she didn't potty train, she didn't have to give up things she wanted just so Nikki could have a winter coat or new shoes. She's done nothing for Nikki."  
  
"You think I want this!" Dinah said with tears breaking through to her cheeks. "I don't want it, but it's not about what I want. And it's what Barbara would do. It's what Barbara did when my mother came back."  
  
"Well that was different. You knew your mom. Even if she quit at it, she was mom somewhere in your head. This woman is a stranger to Nikki. She doesn't deserve anything."  
  
"I want to give Nikki what I didn't have." Dinah couldn't fight the tears breaking now. "And that includes a chance with her real mother. I have to, even if I hate it, because Mike would want me too."   
  
"Dinah--"  
  
"Please let this happen the way it has to happen."  
  
Helena saw no point in arguing with her now. Dinah was fighting her own emotional turmoil right now, proably saying to herself all the things she was saying out loud.  
  
"Come here," she said taking Dinah into her arms. Nothing made Dinah feel better than having Helena hold her.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
That Friday morning school was closed, so Helena and Dinah took Nikki to get her guinea pig. They also had arranged to meet with Kelly that day. Kelly was staying at a friend's house. Daria was also a friend of Mikes who knew Kelly. Apparently she'd run into this old friend by accident and learned about Mike's fate seven years ago. It had been a couple days since Nikki saw Kelly and the fear was gone. She just wondered, why was Kelly here now?  
  
Some fear came back as they rang the bell. Her only comfort was the new pet she held in her arms. Nikki hoped this woman didn't expect her to call her mom. They were all surprised when a little boy answered the door. Nikki froze for a momment. It was the little boy from her dream. Her little brother.   
  
"Hi, I'm Nick," the boy said.   
  
"Nicholas," Kelly's voice yelled from inside. "I told you about that door."  
  
Kelly reached the door.   
  
"Cool hamster," the four year old boy said.   
  
"It's a guinea pig, his name is Mike," Nikki told him "Hamsters are smaller."  
  
"Nicholas," Kelly said to the little boy. "This is Nicole. Your sister."  
  
Dinah and Helena shared an uncertain glance, but Nikki smiled even widder.   
  
"A baby brother. I have a baby brother."  
  
"I'm not a baby," Nick said.   
  
"Sorry, I mean little brother."  
  
"Well, come on in," Kelly said.   
  
Daria was inside. She greeted Dinah with a handshake and appologized for the incident at the school. Nikki and Nick were soom chatting about favorite TV shows and the latest video games. He was facinated with Dinah's new pet and told her about his dog at home. The adults sat in the kitchen allowing the kids to bond.   
  
"So that's your son?" Dinah asked.   
  
"Yeah, my son and my husband's son."  
  
"So you're married?"  
  
"Yes," Kelly replied.   
  
"I guess he's not a 'thing'," Helena mumbled  
  
"I'm sorry for using that word," Kelly said. "I can see Nikki's not a thing."  
  
"Why couldn't you see that when she was born?" Helena questioned.   
  
"I'll handle this Helena," Dinah said. She turned to Kelly. "Why are you here now?"  
  
"I thought having another kid and doing the right thing would make up for what I did. I never forgot Nicole, but I thought she was living happily with Mike all this time. I just need to know she was okay"  
  
"What do you care if they were happy or not?" Helena interrupted again. "They were monsters."  
  
"I don't understand what you are, what she is, but she still came from me. I care."  
  
"You cared so much you had to accidentally find out Mike was dead and your daughter was  
someone else's child."   
  
"I don't want to take her."  
  
"Your's not going to," Helena mumbled.  
  
"I'm sorry, I just want to talk to Nikki and give the choice to her. I won't interrupt your lives again unless I'm invited."  
  
  
  
  
  
Nick and Nikki sat on the living room floor racing each other in a video game. Nikki felt like she had always known him as they laughed and talked trash about how badly they would beat the other in the game. Nikki was so elated to be with him she didn't care if she won or lost. But she won the video game race sending her little brother's car spinning off the track.   
  
"Do you have this game at home?" Nick asked.  
  
"Nope, first time playing."  
  
They sat in silence for a few seconds.   
  
"Mommy said you were different."  
  
"She did? Does your mom talk about me a lot?"  
  
"No, just a lil while ago before we came to see you."  
  
"And she said I was different."  
  
"Yeah, she said you was different from me. 'Cept you seem like a regular old kid just like me."  
  
"Well I'm not a regular old kid," Nikki replied.   
  
"Your not?"  
  
"Nope, I have powers," Nikki said seriously, waiting to see how he would react. She had never told anyone this. Nick laughed.   
  
"Stop lying," the boy said.  
  
"I do. That's why mom didn't want me. See, my dad had powers too."  
  
He stopped laughing. "Really? Can you like blow stuff up?" he said excited.   
  
"No, nothing that cool," Nikki said. "Alright, you know I only have one Mike right?"   
  
"Yeah."  
  
She pulled over the box where she had placed her new pet. Nikki concentrated and told Nick to look in the box. He did and was surprised to see two Mike the guinea pigs in the box.   
  
"Cool, you split him into two," he reached for the second and his hand went through the illusion.   
  
"It's not two," Nikki said making the illusion disappear. "It's a trick. If I have a picture of something in my head, I can make it seem like it's there when it's not."  
  
"Wow, that's cool. I can't do anything cool like that."  
  
"You can't tell anybody though. Your mom might be mad I told you."  
  
"Why you keep saying that?"  
  
"Saying what?"  
  
"Saying like we have two different moms. She's your mommy too."  
  
"I don't really know your mommy like a mommy."  
  
"That's weird. We come from the same lady, but have different mommies."  
  
"I'm weird," Nikki said with a smile.  
  
"No, you're cool," Nick replied.   
  
"So you don't think me and my dad are monsters."  
  
"No way."  
  
"Thanks," Nikki said.   
  
"I wish my dad had powers and I got some."  
  
"No you don't, because then Mom wouldn't want you."  
  
"Maybe mommy's different now Nikki," Nick said.   
  
"I hope so," Nikki replied. "Cause I like having a brother."  
  
"Proably almost time to eat, lets go," Nick said taking Nikki's hand. Nikki wished she could take him home with her.  
  
The two of them entered the dinning room. The grown ups were still sitting around talking.   
  
"Hey," Nick whispered. "Could you make them think we were sitting there when we weren't and then we could be somewhere else."  
  
"Not really good at keeping the illusion going if I'm not in the same room."  
  
"Too bad," Nick said as they apprached the adults who promptly ended whatever conversation they had going.   
  
"Hey Nikki," Dinah said. "Did you have fun with your brother?"  
  
"Yeah, he's cool."  
  
"Mom, she's tottally cool," Nick said to Kelly. "Can she come to my party this weekend?"  
  
"Party?" Nikki questioned  
  
"I'm gonna be five years old," Nick said displaying five fingers.  
  
"I'm gonna be nine in two months."  
  
"Nine? Wow, you're a big girl," Kelly said.  
  
Nikki looked disappointed Kelly didn't remember how old she was.   
  
"Did you ever hold me Kelly?" Nikki asked suddenly.   
  
"What?" Kelly replied.   
  
"Did you hold me when I was born? Did you look at me? I always wondered if you looked at me and still saw a monster or didn't look at me at all because you were afraid of what you'd see."  
  
Kelly never expected that question and everyone was waiting on her answer.  
  
"They laid you on my chest, they said 'here's your baby'. I shut my eyes, I turned away, but I could still hear you crying. I didn't want to see you. They took you off of me and put you in the Nursery."  
  
"You didn't want to love me?" Nikki questioned. "I don't understand."  
  
"I can't explain it. All I can say is I was wrong and if I had the chance to do it again, I wouldn't be  
so cruel."  
  
"Does this mean she can't come to my party?" Nick asked.   
  
"That's up to her," Kelly replied.   
  
"And she could stay over night?" Nick question. "Maybe the whole weekend  
  
Dinah and Nikki looked at each other and then at Helena who didn't hide the look of displeasure on her face. Kelly's abandonment of baby Nikki disgusted her and she wasn't pretending to feel anything else.   
  
"Mom? Helena?" Nikki questioned. "Would that be okay?"  
  
"It's up to you," Dinah said.   
  
"We could have a sleepover Nikki. I got a bunkbed all to myself. You can have whichever you want."  
  
Nikki smiled at her little brother. "That would be fun."  
  
"And we'll be glad to have you," Kelly said.   
  
  
*****  
  
A few hours later they were back at the Clocktower and things were almost quiet. Nikki heard her mother and Helena training in the other room. She knew today's practice was less about staying on top of there game physically and more about working out there issues with Kelly. She could see it on Helena's face and feel it from her mother. But she couldn't say no to a weekend  
with her little brother.   
  
The phone rang and Nikki answered it. She was pleased to hear Barbara on the other end.   
  
"Hey Aunt Barbara."  
  
"Nikki," Barbara responded. "Where's your mother?"  
  
"She and Helena are training. They're kinda upset."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"We had lunch with my biological mother today."  
  
"Kelly? She's back?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"How do you feel about that?"  
  
"I don't know," Nikki replied.  
  
"Who you talking to Nik?" Helena questioned as she appeared toweling herself off.   
  
"Aunt Barbara," Nikki replied handing her the phone.   
  
Nikki got her pet Mike and headed to her room. She had a suitcase out for packing. She was going to Kelly's house tomorrow, overnight.   
  
"Mommy says it's best if you stay here with her Mike. Sorry to be leaving you so soon, but I get a chance to be with my real life brother. I wish he could be here with Mommy and Helena and me instead of the other way around."  
  
"You haven't packed anything yet," Dinah said as she appeared in the doorway.  
  
"I'm scared to be alone with her. Kelly's just some strange woman. Sometimes I don't know, it's creepy. Like she expects me to love her like I love you and Helena and Aunt Barbara. But I don't mom, because she's not my mom."  
  
"I know," Dinah said hugging her. "She knows. She won't make you call her mom or hug her tommorow. Just go and be with your brother and if you feel uncomfortable, call."  
  
"You're scared too, I can feel it."  
  
"Maybe I'm afraid you'll get to know her and love her more than you love me."  
  
"Never happen."  
  
"Alright Princess Knight," Dinah said giving her a kiss. "You figure out what you're going to pack and remeber it's just a weekend."  
  
Dinah and Nikki knew it wasn't just a weekend. Nikki had never been to a sleepover of any sort or stayed over a friend or relatives house. This was the first time since Mike's death, almost seven years ago, that Nikki would be away from home overnight. It was scary for both of them. Nikki opened her drawers and began looking for clothes.   
  
Helena entered her room as Nikki was trying to close the suitcase.   
  
"You alright Knight Rider?" Helena questioned.   
  
Nikki laughed at one of the many names she invented, or borrowed, for herself. "Yeah, I'm alrightjust can't get this thing closed."  
  
"Come here Nik," Helena said sitting in a chair in the room. Nikki came and sat in her lap."You're really gettin' big."  
  
Nikki smiled.   
  
"Anyway, you remember I told you about my dad and my mom right."  
  
"Your dad didn't know about you until you were all grown up and you didn't know he was Batman."  
  
"Forget Batman, I didn't even know he was Bruce Wayne. I know a bit of what you're feeling. People see this person who's your parent and you see a stranger who you happen to share DNA with and everyone expects some magic love switch to turn on and it just doesn't happen."  
  
"So you didn't, I mean when you finally met your dad..."  
  
"No, there was no magic switch. I mean we're friends now, but he's not my father, I didn't have a father. He wasn't there and you can't get it back once it's gone. The most you can hope is that you can be friends and respect each other at the end of it all."  
  
"But I'm still a little girl. What if she still thinks... what if I can still love her like a mom?"  
  
"Do you think you could?"  
  
"No, Dinah's my mom."  
  
"That's right."  
  
Nikki smiled. "Would you ever have minded if I called you mommy Helena?"  
  
Helena was shocked by this question.   
  
"I was just wondering," Nikki said.  
  
"Nah, I wouldn't mine."  
  
They hugged. Helena got up and walked over to the bed. She arranged the clothes a bit and then closed the suitcase.   
  
"All done," Helena told her. "Now lets go watch some TV."  
  
  
****  
  
Night seem to come out of nowhere. Nikki lay on the end of the bed knowing early the next day she wouldn't be in her own room. She was restless when she should have been sleeping. Unable to sleep, she made her way to the Clocktower and heard Helena and Dinah's voices.  
  
"I don't like Kelly anymore than you. I think I'm going to take her myself tommorow."  
  
"What?" Helena replied.   
  
"Helena, she's my daughter. I'll handle it."  
  
"Your daughter? Well I've had more than a few sleepless night cause of that kid too. Why is it when shit happens, she's just your daughter."  
  
"You and Barbara help, but I thought that's was the way it was. I'm the parent"  
  
"That's the way you want it to be," Helena replied.   
  
"You seem to want it to. You still keep your own place Helena. If you want to ake a few days off from life with Nikki, you can. I can't."  
  
"Seven years almost and you think I'm not in it for the long haul with that little girl?" Dinah didn't answer. "Then I guess it doesn't matter because you're ready to give her to Kelly."  
  
"Helena, that's not fair. Listen, I know we've been together a long time, but sometimes I think the only reason we have been is because the door was always open and you could walk out. I was always afraid if I made it permanent, something as permanent as being Nikki's parent, you'd stop wanting it. It's a shame after all this time I'm still afraid of losing people I love. I don't want to  
give her to Kelly, I want to say no, she's mine... no I want to say she's ours and you gave up every right you had the day you left her, but I don't want Nikki to look back at me a few years from now and hate me for closing the door for her."  
  
"Nikki did close the door, you're forcing it open."  
  
"I didn't have to force anything after she saw her little brother."  
  
"She may be facinated with her little dream brother, but it doesn't change the fact that you are her mother. I love that kid and I love you. And I'm going with you tommorow, because our little girl isn't staying with no one I haven't checked out."  
  
"Our little girl," Dinah repeated with a smile on her face. "Ours, I really like the sound of that."  
  
"From the moment I found you crying on Mike's floor, I knew she was ours. Maybe I haven't acted like I want it, maybe I didn't know I did, but I'd be hurting just like you if Kelly took her away."  
  
They smiled at each other.   
  
"She asked to call me mommy Helena today. I told her it was okay."  
  
"Good, because it is."  
  
Nikki smiled to herself and walked back to her room. She could sleep now.   
  
****  
  
  
It had been a long car ride to the suburb where Kelly lived with her family. Nikki always imagined her biological mother as far far away, so far away it would be impossible to ever run into her on the street. It wasn't next door, but it was still too close for comfort. It was hard to imagine she'd been so close raising another child for five years. Nikki held on to her mother's hand as they approached the door. She didn't want to go inside. Then she saw her little brother come running out the door and she relaxed a bit. A man ran out and grabbed his shoulder. Nikki guessed he was Nick's father. He saw the women and smiled.  
  
"Hi Nikki, this my dad," Nick said.  
  
"Hello sir," Nikki said offering her hand to the man. He shook her hand and smiled.  
  
"Dinah Lance, Nikki's mother," Dinah said presenting her hand.   
  
"I'm Harold Nelson."  
  
"Come see my room Nikki," Nick said snatching his sister's hand.   
  
Kelly exited the home wearing an apron. For so long Helena, Dinah, Barbara, and everyone who knew about Kelly's abandonment of Nikki saw her as the worst kind of human being. And here she was looking like your average, everyday, cookie baking, house wife.   
  
"Hello again," Kelly said with it smile.   
  
Despite her outward appearence Dinah and Helena still found it difficult to look at her without a  
certain amount of hate.   
  
"You're welcome to stay for the party," Kelly said.  
  
"We'll be here to pick her up noon Sunday. Have her ready by then?" Helena said.   
  
"We're still in church at that--"  
  
"We'll be back for her noon Sunday," Helena repeated.  
  
Nikki came back outside with Nick nearby. He stuck by his parents while she walked up to Helena and Dinah.   
  
"You sure you'll be okay?" Dinah asked.  
  
"Yeah," Nikki replied. "I mean if I'm not I can always call you right?"  
  
"Or you could come home now or after the party," Helena said. "You don't have to spend the night."  
  
"I really want to spend some time with Nick. There's got to be a reason I dreamed about him right? Like Mommy dreamed about you and Aunt Barbara and New Gotham. And Mom, I want you to know. I like my family, even if it's different. I like it because it's different. I know Kelly's not my mom even she has the little brother I dreamed about. She's just... Kelly, but I kinda need to know who that is, cause that's inside of me too."  
  
They hugged her good-bye and then walked away. Then Nikki was alone with them.   
  
  
  
  
  
The clocktower almost seemed to quiet when Helena and Dinah returned. They heard Reese's signal as they entered. It should have felt good to be free of parenting responsibilities for a few days.   
  
"Who's going?"  
  
"He proably has information on your guy. You go. I want to check out this Harold Nelson guy."  
  
"There's nothing to check out, he's a dentist."  
  
"I still don't like the feeling I got from him."  
  
  
****  
  
Meanwhile, Nikki feeling alone at the Nelson house. She was standing by a window watching birds fly outside. Nick came and stood beside her.  
  
"You're not happy Nikki."  
  
"It's just weird. I don't go many places without my mom or Helena or Barbara. School maybe. I guess I'm just scared about staying overnight."  
  
"Didn't think big kids got scared."  
  
The doorbell rang.  
  
"That's my friends. Wait till I tell them my sister's got super powers."  
  
He started to run off, Nikki grabbed his arm.   
  
"No, you can never tell!" Nikki said.   
  
"Why?" Nick asked sadly.   
  
"Cause, it's a secret. People do weird things when they find out."  
  
"Like mommy leaving you?" Nick asked saddly.  
  
"Yeah. Some of your friends might think it's cool, but then they'd want to use me. And other kids, they'd just think it's weird and not like me. And there's even some people who'd want to experiment on me."  
  
"Like in the cartoons?" he questioned.  
  
"You got to be careful who you tell."  
  
"But you told me."  
  
"You're my brother."  
  
"Okay," Nick said.   
  
She let him go and he ran off. Kelly was ushering kids into the backyard by then. Harold appeared in the doorway.   
  
"Hey beautiful girl," Harold said.   
  
He made her uncomfortable. He kept giving her this friendly smile that didn't feel friendly.   
  
"Hello sir."  
  
"I'm your step father, you don't have to call me sir."  
  
"You don't want me to call you dad, do you?"  
  
"No... of course not. How about Harold?"  
  
"I'm comfortable with sir," Nikki said.   
  
"Okay... okay," Harold replied. "I know you're not use to having a dad."  
  
"That's not true, for awhile that was all I had."  
  
"But you can't remember him."  
  
"I can, I can see my dad in my head real clear sometimes."  
  
Suddenly Nikki was looking at an image of Mike standing beside Harold. She smiled at it.   
  
"He looks just like that."  
  
Harold turned. Shocked by the appearence of Mike, the illusion made him jump.   
  
"What--?" Harold began   
  
"It's my gift. You knew I was meta... right?"  
  
"Yeah, I knew, I just didn't know about this."  
  
The image of Mike faded.   
  
"Did I freak you out?"  
  
"No, you surprised me, but no. I'm curious. How long have you been able to do this?"  
  
"Since before I could remember. Aunt Barbara says it's unusual for most metas to demonstrate abilities the way that I did at such a young age. See my mom, Dinah, she has mental abilities too and when I was a little baby I was able to get inside her head. I didn't do it on purpose, but we started to be able to hear each other."  
  
"You mean, she could hear what you were thinking?" Harold asked with intense interest. "Can you do that with other people?"  
  
"No... how did Aunt Barbara put it. It was like a byproduct of my abilities and my mom's abilities and our connection. The first time I projected an illussion, it was a picture in my mom's head. It was her mom."  
  
"Can you see inside your real mom's head?"  
  
"Nobody else. Mom says that may change as I get older. Mom and me can feel each other still, when we're in distress and stuff."  
  
"How close do you have to be to physically... to you know... feel it or comunicate with each other?"  
  
"Usually kind of close." Nikki smiled. "You really aren't freaked out?"  
  
"I love your mother--"  
  
"She's not my mother, she's Kelly."  
  
"I'm sorry. I love Kelly. You are a part of her and my son, how could I not like you?"  
  
"Kelly didn't like me. She left me."  
  
"She made a mistake. But now we want you to be a part of our family. Haven't you ever wanted this? A mom, a dad, a brother."  
  
"I wanted a brother, the rest of it I already have."  
  
Nick ran into the room. "Hey, Nikki, come on. You're missing the fun."   
  
Nick grabbed her and ran out the room. Kelly came in as they left.   
  
"I'm glad I listened to you," Kelly said. "I wasn't sure at first, but when I saw her..."  
  
"You're falling in love with her," he said with a satisfied grin.  
  
"She's me, she's a picture of me at that age. Then I talk to her and I realize she's not me, she's Dinah. And I want to hate Dinah, but then I remember she did what I couldn't, what I wouldn't."  
  
"We'll have her in love with us before the weekend's out. She won't want to leave."  
  
"Harold Dinah's her mother."  
  
"You're her mother Kelly."  
  
"Why do you care so much?"  
  
"I was abandoned by mother forced to grow up with those poor excuses for parents."  
  
"She doesn't have poor excuses..."  
  
"How can you give her up. She's your blood, you love her, she belongs with you."  
  
"I can't make her love me Harold."  
  
"You can, you will."  
  
Harold left the room and Kelly stood there alone. When she discovered Mike's death and Nikki's adoption she has no intention of tracking down the child. But the chance meeting had sparked a conversation with her husband that led to her telling him about her first born. He suddenly became adamant that she had to see the child. She didn't want to, but she did it to satisfy him.  
She was glad she had now because never too have seen Nikki would have been a tragedy. But now she wondered about her husbands motives in the reunion.  
  
  
******  
  
  
In the Clocktower. Helena sat in front of the computer as Dinah returned from her meeting with Detective Reese. She been gone for a couple hours and was filled with dirt and grime.   
  
"Dinah, what the fuck happened?" Helena asked.  
  
"I met Reese, he had the guys name and an address. There was a chase. Reese looks worse and the guy's in custody," Dinah explained.   
  
"Why didn't you contact me?"  
  
"It was one guy, Resse was there. As sick as this guy was, he liked to have power over helpless victims, I wasn't helpless," Dinah said. "Now, have we discovered Harold Nelson's deep dark secret."  
  
"No deep dark secrets."  
  
"See, just a normal guy."   
  
"Give me an ass to kick, I'm fine. But this machine... background checks, research, it's just not my deal. Leave it to Barbara... or Nikki. You know once, I was suppose to be helping her with a report and she found all the stuff she needed on her own. She had dates, names, places. I was useless. She's such a smart kid, not too smart but smart enough. She really has a head for  
numbers too. I fought with the multiplication tables in school. She learned them in a week."  
  
"I miss her too, but right now I'm glad for the peace. I can go take a shower without having to worry about if Nikki's homework is done or she's in bed on time."  
  
"This Harold guy just bothers me. You ever had that gut feeling about someone?"  
  
"I think in this case our personal feelings are getting in the way."  
  
  
Dinah slipped into the shower and stood against the shower wall letting the hot water fall over her back. She tried to pretend her mind wasn't going crazy knowing she couldn't just go check on Nikki tonight. Even though Nikki was often in bed while she was out patroling the streets, she made it her bussiness to perform night checks. Usually Barbara was here or Alfred. They'd finally  
convinced Alfred to take a vacation. She always wondered how old Alfred was. He was always old, but always the same age of old. She wondered if he had some special ability he had yet to reveal that alowed him to exsist as some sort of eternal aged guardian of heros. He had been around the Clocktower less and less since Bruce Wayne's return.   
  
Her thoughts were interrupted by soft hands on her shoulders. She knew that touch. She turned toward Helena and there lips met. It had been a long time since they had anywhere to themselves and there were advantages. It was nice to get loss for a moment, to just forget there was anything but this moment, this feeling, and this beautiful woman to love.   
  
  
  
  
****  
  
  
At the Nelson house, Nikki tossed and turned in bed. She couldn't sleep. She was on the top bunk, so it would be hard to get out of bed without waking her brother. Nikki wasn't comfotable. She enjoyed the party, but it didn't feel right to be here now. She wanted her own bed. She wanted to get up in the morning and see Helena and her mother. She wanted to go home.   
  
"Sorry Nick," Nikki said softly.   
  
She slipped out of bed and kissed her brother on the head. Then she tip toed down the hall to find a phone. She dialed home, but no one answered the phone.   
  
"Well, if one way doesn't work. Okay focus," she said to herself.  
  
"Mom, I need you," she said to herself and concentrated hard on reaching out to her mother.  
  
"Nikki?" a voice said interrupting the process.   
  
"Sir?" Nikki said turning to her brother's father. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"Looking for you. I heard you come downstairs."  
  
"I couldn't sleep."  
  
"Strange house?" he questioned.   
  
"Yeah."  
  
"You know, I was a foster kid. I experienced that a lot growing up. The displacement of being in  
a new place."  
  
"My mommy was in foster care too. I was lucky to get adopted by someone who loves me."  
  
"But does she really love you?"  
  
"Of course. My mommy loves me."  
  
"Wouldn't you love to be with your brother forever."  
  
"No! I mean... not if it means giving up my family."   
  
"You're with your family."  
  
  
  
******  
  
"Nikki," Canary said suddenly.  
  
"What about her?" she questioned.   
  
"I just got this feeling. We need to get to her, now."  
  
  
*****  
  
"Daddy, I'm sleepy," Nick said rubbing his eyes as he was carried into the car. He came awake in the seat and realized Nikki was tied up beside him.   
  
"This is kidnapping," Kelly said.   
  
"Do you want your daughter back or not?" Harold said.   
  
"If she was mine I wouldn't have to kidnap her."  
  
"I'm Nikki Lance," Nikki yelled. "I'm not her daughter."  
  
"You are," Harold yelled. "You'll learn to accept it."  
  
"Why do you care?"  
  
"Daddy, you're upsetting Nikki."  
  
"Your sister will get over it, sometimes parents..."  
  
"You're not my parents!!!" Nikki yelled.   
  
"Don't say that sweetheart," Harold said. "I gave you your mother. She didn't want to ever see you again, but I made it happen."  
  
"Why are you doing this?" Nikki cried.   
  
  
***  
  
  
Huntress and Canary arrived at the empty Nelson house an hour later. They exammined the house and found things tossed around like someone had left in a hurry.   
  
"Guess you were right," Canary said.   
  
"I didn't want to be," Huntress replied.   
  
"I'm calling Reese," Canary said.   
  
"Why?"  
  
"He's a cop, our child's been kidnapped. He can at least put out and APB on the guys car. Harold was probably was counting on the weekend to cover his tracks."  
  
"Fine, you call Reese, I'm going to get Nikki," Huntress said.   
  
"Nikki, where are you," Dinah whispered.  
  
'Mom,' she heard in her head.   
  
"Nikki," she replied. 'Where are you?'  
  
Huntress turned toward her.  
  
'In a car on the road, I don't know.'  
  
'Helena and I will find you.'  
  
"I can hear her," Canary told Huntress. "She's okay right now. I'll help her try to find a landmark."  
  
"I'll call Reese."  
  
'Nikki, are there any landmarks you can see?'  
  
'Nothing yet mom.'  
  
'Can you tell me about leaving?'  
  
'I was kind of upset, I wasn't paying attention. This is so cool mom, I didn't know we could still do this.'  
  
'Nik, concentrate. Think.'  
  
'Wait, he's stopping. V and R motel. What kind of motel is that?'  
  
'I don't know, but we'll find it.'  
  
"We have to find the V and R motel," Canary told Huntress.   
  
  
****  
  
  
Nikki sat on the floor of an office at the V&R motel. She was sitting beside Nick who told her his uncle owned the place. Harold must have had a key. Everything she found out, she told her mother. Her hands were free now, because he thought she was harmless. Kelly was sitting nearby, not looking to pleased at the moment. Harold was on the phone in the ajoining room. He  
was turned away from them.   
  
"Happy now Kelly?" Nikki questioned.  
  
"Of course not Nikki."  
  
"Then stop him. He's your husband."  
  
"I was on the streets with nowhere to go when he took me in. He's all I have and he wants you with me."  
  
"Mom is what I have and I just want to get back to her and Helena and Aunt Barbara and everything. I wish I had never met you."  
  
"I guess I deserve that," Kelly said. "A few months ago I would have said the same thing about  
you."  
  
"What?" Nick replied surprised.   
  
"There's a reason I didn't tell you about her Nick," Kelly said looking at her son. "I was ashamed  
of her."  
  
"But she's your daughter."  
  
"I didn't see her that way baby, I saw--"  
  
"A monster," Nikki finished.  
  
"Yeah, but that was until I saw you and then I saw who the real monster was, me."  
  
"So why did you look for me in the first place?"  
  
"Harold, He told me I had to find you. I didn't want to, but I did it for him and when I saw you I nearly fell apart. I missed out on raising an amazing little girl because I was stupid. And you have every right to hate me for the rest of your life."  
  
"I don't hate you," Nikki replied. She reached out and Kelly took her hand.   
  
"Kelly, I have to go back to my mom," she said.   
  
"I know," Kelly replied.   
  
"Will you let me go?" Nikki questioned. "My mom's outside."  
  
"What how can you?"  
  
"I'm talking to her, in my head. I told her it wasn't you, that you want me to go home. Harold's still looking the other way. I can hold an illussion in the room I think. Thing is, if I'm not outside in 30 minutes, they're coming in."  
  
Kelly didn't question how it was possible that the child could know this.   
  
"What about me Nikki?" Nick asked.   
  
"You'll always be my brother, but you have your mom, now I need mine."  
  
A saddened Nick hugged her. She embraced her brother tight before she began plotting her  
escape.   
  
  
Canary, and Huntress were outside the motel waiting for Nikki to appear.  
  
"She's sneaking out the back way," Dinah said.   
  
"I wish I could be as sure as you are."  
  
"It's luck," Dinah said. "We haven't really done it in awhile."  
  
"It's a good thing you can do it now or Harold might be missing a few limbs."  
  
Dinah appeared in his calm, but she nearly broke into tears when she saw Nikki smiling at her. The child ran to her and Dinah caught her in her arms. She composed herself and ushered the child toward the car.  
  
  
  
  
Inside Harold had just watch the image of Nikki disolve as he approached it.   
  
"Where is she?" he screamed.   
  
"She's gone daddy," Nick said.   
  
"What do you mean she's gone."  
  
"Nikki doesn't belong with us."  
  
"What kind of mother are you?" Harold said grabbing Nick.   
  
"What are you doing with my son?" Kelly questioned.   
  
"Mommy," Nick called reaching for her.   
  
"I'm getting your daughter back."  
  
Harold exited the motel holding Nick and a knife. He knew Nikki had a weak spot for her baby brother. Nick remained perfectly still with the knife to his throat. He didn't plan on hurting him, but he had to get Nikki's attention, for her own good.   
  
"Bring the little girl back," he said causing the two women to pause. Nikki saw her brother in danger and jumped out the car. Helena and Dinah went after her.   
  
"Nick," Nikki yelled and started to move toward them. Helena grabbed her arm.  
  
"He wouldn't hurt his son," Helena told her.   
  
"What if he would?"  
  
"Why do you want our daughter?" Dinah asked.  
  
"Kelly's daughter, they belong together."  
  
"She doesn't daddy," Nick said. "That's her mommy. She told me so. Nikki's not a liar."  
  
"Shut up boy."  
  
"Sir," Dinah said. "The cops are on there way. You already have a charge of kidnapping on your plate, you wouldn't want to add the murder of your son to it."  
  
"Get your hands off of my son," a voice almost growled behind Harold.   
  
He turned. Kelly was standing there with a pan in her hand. When he turned, she hit him. Nikki broke free of Helena and ran and grabbed Nick. She pulled him away as he called for his mother. Huntress and Canary got in the fight to restrain Harold a second too late, the knife Harold held cut though Kelly's stomach. Seconds later, Helena freed his hand of the weapon while Dinah ran to Kelly's side as she fell to the ground. Nick screamed for his mother and ran to her. Helena bound the man's hands as he yelled that he would never hurt his son.  
  
Laying on the ground, Kelly looked up at her son and then at Dinah. "Take care of him," Kelly said.  
  
"I won't have to," Dinah told her. "  
  
"Thank you for doing what I couldn't," Kelly said gripping Dinah's hand. "You have a wonderful little girl. You should be proud."  
  
  
****  
  
Days later...  
  
The elevator door opened in the Clocktower and Nick's eye widened in surprise. They stepped inside. Nikki loved seeing the awe in Nick's eyes. Then Nikki met the disapproving gaze of her mother. Nick completely missed it.  
  
"Wow," he said. "This is all yours?"  
  
"Well, it's the secret lair," Nikki said.  
  
"Nikki, why did you bring him up here?" Dinah asked.   
  
"We can trust him. I wanted to show him, he's my brother."  
  
"He's only here until Kelly gets out the hospital."  
  
"But I'm really good at keeping secrets," Nick said.   
  
"Besides, when Kelly gets out she's staying in New Gotham so Nick and I can be close, I don't want to have to hide stuff from him."  
  
The elevator doors opened and Helena stepped out.   
  
"There you two are."  
  
"Sorry Helena, I wanted him to see the clocktower."  
  
"Go downstairs," Helena said.   
  
"We'll talk about this later," Dinah told Nikki.   
  
"Okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Nikki said walking off with Nick.   
  
The two kids ran past Helena and left the clocktower.   
  
"Why don't we just give up on the whole 'secret liar' deal?" Dinah asked.  
  
Helena laughed. The doors openned again and Helena and Dinah turned expecting the children. It was Barbara instead.   
  
"Barbara you're back?" Dinah said  
  
"I am and when did we get a little boy?" Barbara asked.   
  
"It's a long story," Dinah said. "And it begins with a guy named Harold."  
  
"A psycho named Harold."  
  
"It isn't really his fault."  
  
"Dinah he kidnapped Nikki."  
  
"Harold had problems."  
  
"Wait, who's Harold?" Barbara askded.  
  
"Nick's father, Kelly's husband," Dinah said. "Apparently he had his own issues when he was a little boy. He was abandoned by his mother. His father raised him and when he died, his mother didn't want him."  
  
"Sounds a lot like Nikki's story."  
  
"Except he was eight when his father died. He was bounced around from foster home to foster home, abused. When he was sixteen he ran away from home and kidnapped his mother. He tried to force feed her his love.He killed her and got away with it. He actually thought he was doing something good for Nikk, starting overi. After Kelly told him what happened it was like hearing his own story, a second chance to make it right. And he got halfway there. Kelly saw Nikki and loved her, but she wouldn't claim her and that's what he needed to feel validated."  
  
"I missed a lot. And why is Nikki's brother here?"  
  
"She got stabbed by her husband while she was trying to save her son. She's okay, but she's in the hospital. Of course Harold's in Jail. So, we have a five year old while she's recovering."  
  
"Two kids?"  
  
"There's three of us, I'm sure we can manage," Helena said.   
  
"I'd never thought we'd be running a day care in the Clocktower."  
  
"It temporary," Dinah said. "Well at least Nick's time in the clocktower is, but I think Nick in Nikki's life together is permanent."  
  
"I guess that means Kelly in Nikki's life is permanent," Barbara said.   
  
"I guess it does. And in the end it's what Mike would have wanted."  
  
  
  
Meanwhile, Nick and Nikki sat side-by-side eating sandwhiches in the penthouse. Nikki had a photo album in the middle of the table showing him pictures of herself growing up.   
  
"You have the coolest family," Nick said.   
  
"Yeah, I do," Nikki said.   
  
"What's it like having two moms?"  
  
"It's awesome."  
  
END  
  
2-24-2003  



End file.
